Quietly into the night
by rpwindfall
Summary: Set 2AF, the world has prospered due to excavated Pulsian tech, called "Packages", but now it is under grave threat; both from encroaching Pulsian wildlife and from more sinister sources. Hope, forcibly turned into a half Fal'cie, is the only chance of banishing the darkness. Not for the fainthearted. Eventual Hope x Light.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I do not own FF13.

This is my first story, I thought I would make my own Hope and Light fic. Tell me what you think. I was always annoyed with stories where Hope was in love with light from the beginning. This is not that story. This is a story where Hope is a badass, and the romance is slow. He also turns into a half fal'cie...so yeah. Tell me what you think!

Time: 2AF

"We need a test subject. Without it, we may well reach the end and find that it has been in vain! A test subject!"

"Test subject? That's against the law. There's no way we would be allowed to get away with it."

"That's why I am the Chief Scientist, Bor. Unimaginative, morons like yourself have always been relegated to the dustbin of history. Of course we aren't allowed to have a test subject. That would be morally indefensible."

"That is what I just said. Like exact words. We can't hav-"

"Ah! That word-"can't"! It doesn't exist! We can have a test subject. We just can't have anyone know about it."

The Chief Scientist, woman by the name of Irl-not much of a name, but after all there is no indication that it was her real one, pointed to a blinking monitor. They were in a brightly lit lab. Unlike ordinary labs, there were no walls, just holographic displays, charting ambiguous statistics and bar charts. The floor was tiled with marble, polished until it shone. The monitor Irl was pointing to had a picture of a body. Graphical representation is perhaps a more apt description. It was spread out a la Vitruvian Man, and all the nerves, blood vessels were emphasised through colour coding.

"Look at it! Look at it Bor! Isn't it glorious?"

"Downright terrifying if you ask me."

Irl sneered at him. "If this simulation is correct, this…this thing can be the next evolutionary step! We can actually become them Bor! Don't tell me that that is not worth investigating!" Spittle flying from her mouth, she took a small break to catch her breath. Before she could resume her tirade, she was interrupted by the sound of a door opening. The entrance to the lab, one of several in this underground facility was a blast proof door. Several hundred kilograms heavy, it lifted itself effortlessly, and in walked a tall man. He was wearing a black suit, and the sounds of his shoes reverberated throughout the lab. Behind him, were several other scientists. They fanned out into the room and started working.

"How goes it doctor?" He asked. Bisecting his face was a scar that almost seemed to pulsate every time he spoke. Nevertheless Irl considered him to be handsome. Much more handsome than Bor anyway.

"Its going as well as we could expect," she replied, tempering her excitement and ignoring the flat stare that Bor was directing at her. That fool didn't understand office politics at all.

"Well, the Chairman wants to speak with you."

Irl followed the man outside the lab, revelling in the sudden coolness. This far down, the base was fairly quiet, though as always she could hear the sounds of industry in the distance. They walked down the corridor, the white marble of the lab replaced with steel grating. Through it she could make out the gushing of water below as it fell into the chasm that the base had been built in. The grate was fairly loose, and she suppressed a shudder.

"I'm busy working Vaughn. What does Cid want?"

"I would guess that he wants an update. That thing is pretty valuable you know." Vaughn replied. They walked down the corridor before going down a set of steel stairs. All around them was the open blackness of the Chasm, alit only thanks to the efforts of several bright spotlights. They entered the elevator, at the far end of the stairs, all the whilst suffering an awkward silence. Once the elevator got moving, Irl moved to the edge so she could be alone and have an excuse not to talk. The elevator was open, dangling precariously from the single cable that it was attached to. As it was pulled upwards, she was once again stunned by the sheer size of the place. That anything of such unprecedented scale could ever be built, never mind in 2 years, simply shocked her. Since Cocoon had fallen, instead of technology lapsing, as almost everyone had thought it would, it had grown exponentially.

The elevator slowed. They were near the surface now, only a few hundred meters above. When it stopped and the laughably weak metal railings disengaged, she stepped out with a light step. The Chairman's office was not far. Cid Raines, once the Primarch of Cocoon, now a father hunted by his sons. The office was luxurious to a fault. A red carpet and gold gilded walls met her as they entered his building. After checking with his secretary, they were waved through. As usual, the corridors were busy, and it was a hassle to get past. Once outside his door, they knocked and the answer was immediate.

Interesting. He was waiting.

"Chairman." Vaughn greeted him.

"Chairman." Irl did the same, in an uncharacteristically professional voice.

"Come in." Cid's voice was cold. It was always cold. They took a seat in front of him, and waited.

"How is everything progressing." he asked.

"Simulations have been run, sir. We believe that the transformation is theoretically possible."

"Theoretically?"

"We need a…subject. We need to inject the crushed fragments of the reconstituted crystal into a test subjects blood stream. From that, it is likely that we will be able to know just how practical this really is."

"We have people on the base. Use them."

"Ahem. Yes well…we have. The problem is that they all died horribly. In one case, the intestines detached, achieved sentience and started eating the woman's internal organs. One guy, which was quite interesting actually, started to turn to crystal. Very slowly luckily, so we could make extensive documentation. The problem is, that everyone who is injected dies. We need a specific type of test subject. We need someone who has been in contact with the fal'cie."

"A l'cie." Cid said softly.

"Right."

"We can't just kidnap a L'cie. They're under the protection of the government." Vaughn said.

"We don't need to bring them here. We just need to infect them, and watch."

"How many of them?"

"We'll start with one. If there is a negative reaction, we wouldn't want to waste them all."

"Then get started."

()-()-

The alarm went off, with its characteristic wind chimes. Hope moaned. The bed was warm. The bed was comfortable. Outside was cold and his mind rebelled at the thought of leaving. So he didn't. He tapped snooze and tried to get back to sleep. Unfortunately sleep eluded him, and he ended up spending the next ten minutes thinking about how he would have to get up. In frustration he jumped out of bed at the 8 minute mark, disabled the alarm and ran into the shower, trying to escape the cold. His dad would have already left for work. As the hot water washed over him, Hope thought about breakfast. He was tired of eggs, but he had the feeling that Dad had finished the bacon. _A prerogative of those who get up early_ , he always said. He decided to forgo making breakfast, and to pick up a sandwich on the way to school. He was in his last year of compulsory education, and decided that it was going to be his last. He hadn't told his dad yet of course, but he was becoming increasingly more interested in science. Rather than spending another 5 years in school, he thought he could join an apprenticeship program. He'd rather be doing science, than learning about it. True science had been relegated to the past. Most scientists spent their time learning how to reverse engineer old Pulsian technology, remnants of advanced ancient civilisations that had been found underground. It had led to a rebirth of civilisation, but the rapidity of the inauthentic advances was slightly disconcerting.

He stepped out of the shower and dried himself. Rummaging in his closet he found (what seemed to be) a clean white shirt and he spent the next few minutes putting on his uniform. His room was fairly large, certainly larger than it had been on Cocoon, though that could be attributed to the vastly increased living space of Pulse. It had a grey fluffy carpet, and barren walls. Hope wasn't really the type to put posters up. His room was still a mess though. Discarded clothes were littered everywhere. The house was in New Cocoon, near the New Sanctum. Dad said that was because the Government had decided to repay their 'saving' of Cocoon with an address in the most hip part of the Capital. _I don't know how we saved Cocoon. I'm pretty sure we made it fall, by killing Orphan_.

Thinking of the L'cie adventures brought on a feeling of melancholy to Hope. He hadn't seen any of his friends for 2 years, and he missed them. Especially Lightning. She was like the older sister that he had always wanted. But he had ignored them in trying to chase a new life. He hadn't seen any of them for 2 years, and that was not due to a lack of trying on their part. He just couldn't do it. At first he had every intention of keeping in contact, but it hadn't lasted. He was no longer the weak boy he had been when his mother had died, and he had to admit he desperately wanted to see them. He heard Snow and Serah had had a child, a boy named Morty. An awful name, but hey could be worse. _Could be called Hope_. He had decided to take an airship to Krantos, with Dad on the weekend, and visit for Morty's second birthday in four months time. When Lightning had called to invite him, he could hear in her voice, that she didn't expect him to come. One of hundreds of excuses he had made. His acquiescence had audibly shocked her. In a good way. Probably.

He got on his Velo, a velo-bicycle that didn't fly. It was basically a glorified bicycle. If bicycles could hover. He rode to Main Corridor, the street directly in front of New Sanctum. It was a cold day, the sky a gloomy overcast, with the sporadic clump of greyer sky. The street was bustling, and Velocars (what wasn't Velo nowadays; the corporation basically had a monopoly) zoomed overhead. Deciding to forget the sandwich, after walking past a hot dog stand, he looked over at the glossy building in front of him. It was huge. A giant block of glass and steel, rising hundreds of meters into the air. Without Pulsian Fabriking, all of this would have been impossible. His dad was probably somewhere in there.

"Hey Hope!" a voice called out to him. Hope turned around, and broke into a grin.

"Vin!" he cheerfully laughed out in between mouthfuls of sausage. "What you doing here?"

"I need to get to school early. There's band practice today. I can't _believe_ that you're eating that so early in the morning." Vin grinned. He knew that Hope had a penchant for shitty food.

"What's the difference between eating it now and eating it later? If you're gonna eat it, you should just eat it. Wait, did you say Band practice? Isn't that on Thursdays?"

"Ya but this Thursday is parents evening, so its been rescheduled."

"Ah crap! Parents evening!"

"You forgot? Ha! Dumbass!"

"It's not funny, Foley is going to destroy me, just like she did last year."

"You shouldn't sleep in her class then. Like every time."

"Shut up Vin. Its not as if you're never on your phone. Plus she's always first period."

"Got a point there buddy. Catch up in school. I have to head out before I'm late."

"Later," Hope replied with a grin. Once Vin had gone, he refocused on his hot dog.

He stopped to take a bite and groaned as mustard spilt on his jacket. He looked back. That was odd. In the corner of the street was a car. Why is a car on the ground? It was a purple salon. The windows were shaded, so he couldn't see what was in it. He walked closer to it, but decided to get a napkin first. The last thing he wanted was for it to stain. He relocated the hot dog stand and edged his way through the crowd to it. Before he could reach it, the purple car erupted in a ball of fire. It engulfed the multitude of people that surrounded it in a cacophony of death and screams. Hope was thrown forwards and slammed into darkness.

"Hey. How are you doing?" a deliciously soft voice called out to him, and he opened his eyes slowly, quickly squinting them when the brightness proved too painful. His whole body was on fire, and he gurgled.

"Shush," the woman held his arm, and waited for his eyes to acclimatise. For some reason, his right eye was taking longer. When they did, she raised his bed, and she showed him a mirror. Hope cried out, though it came out as more of a gurgle. He was ruined. The explosion had taken a toll on him to put it lightly. There were sounds outside, and the nurse let go of his arm. She took out a syringe out, and showed it to him.

"Do you know what this is?" she asked. Hope shook his head.

"It's a new regenerative serum. Top secret. It will heal you." she whispered. She raised the spring in both arms and slammed it in his chest. Hope convulsed. When he came to again, the lady was gone.

"I'm hallucinating." he thought. "Maker."

The doctor walked into the room. He was bestride by several nurses. The terrorist attack had killed several tens of people and wounded a great many more. The Central Hospital's resources were overburdened. Hope had been patched up and left to rest, as his condition had been deemed stable. His father on the other hand was very much dead. His l'cie friends had already been contacted. They were on their way. Apparently. Idle gossip and rumours. She looked down at Hope and sighed. Such a handsome boy. Well, he wasn't anymore. He was partially blind in his right eye. His right ear had been torn, as well as his nose and upper lip. His tongue had been shredded by a piece of shrapnel that had torn his left cheek open. He would recover, but would be heavily scarred. Several of his teeth had been knocked out, and his left knee had been smashed, beyond recovery. He would also, barring some miracle, be confined to a wheelchair. His L'cie friends had also been notified. Probably.


	2. Reunion

Hope looked out of the window. Over the last few hours he had been thinking. At first he had been watching TV, but the only thing that was on was the news, and that had gotten boring quickly. Apparently, a new Package had been excavated, in the Soma region, just outside New Cocoon. The nature of the Package was still under wraps, but hopefully it would be another Manufacturing Unit. Currently Soma was a collection of villages and farms, but with another MU, a proper city could be built. It was a pity that they expired upon use, or the whole of Pulse could have been colonised by now. _Still aren't enough people though._

He watched the hustle and bustle of life outside. It continued, unabated, the act of terrorism quickly forgotten by those it had left unaffected. There were many "rogue" factions out there. The vast amount of Packages that were beneath Pulse meant that anyone technically could become a major player, if they were lucky enough to find something. They were starting to get rare though. At first, there had been new excavations daily, now they were lucky if they found one a month.

The whoosh of a Velocar distracted him from his thoughts and once he heard commotion outside, he put an end to it for good. He turned to look at the door expectantly. He had been holed up in here for hours. Maybe it was his father. He was surprised he hadn't visited yet, but maybe there was business in the Sanctum to wrap up. Something in the back of his head whispered that something was wrong. The vision in his right eye was starting to get slightly better, at the very least it wasn't as blurry anymore. His face still ached however. There were shadows at the door, and hushed whispering. Hope tried to put up a smile and sat up a bit. It was painful, but he didn't want his dad to worry too much.

The figures walked in, and Hope's stomach plummeted. It wasn't his dad. He blinked repeatedly, as Serah and Snow walked in. Behind them was Sazh and finally Lightning. There was only one reason why they would have come. The grimace on Serah's usually carefree face fuelled his suspicion. He said nothing. He didn't trust himself to say anything. He watched them warily.

"Heya Hope." Snow said softly. Snow never said anything softly. He registered the shock in their eyes as they saw his ruined face.

"Ughl er," Hope replied. His eyes widened. "Ughee leer." He tried to speak, but his tongue wouldn't move. Why won't it move? Maker help me.

Serah had tears in her eyes, but the others reaction was much worse. He had never really known Serah, but the others…

"Hope, I am so sorry." Snow said, as tears welled in his eyes.

Behind Sazh, a small boy peeked at him. That would be Dajh. This was painful and humiliating. But mostly painful. He had dreamt about how this reunion would go. He had spent sleepless nights fantasizing about how when he finally met them again, they would be shocked by how much he had grown. How mature he had gotten. Now, none of that even mattered. Was he still human? He had seen the mirror.

"Hope…" Lightning spoke. Her voice held, but she sounded like she was on the verge of breaking.

"Ughee lee?" My father?

"Hope, we are taking you with us, ok," Lightning said.

Hope tried to cry. He willed for the tears to come. For him to feel anything, but there was nothing, only emptiness. How could everything change so quickly? It seemed a dream, but even his worst nightmares had never haunted him this badly.

_)(()-()—-

They left Hope in his room, and walked outside. The situation was worse than any of them could have imagined. His father gone, and to have been injured so badly.

"Fuck!" Snow swore and punched the wall. He leaned his elbow against it, cradling his head. Serah said nothing. She didn't know the boy, but he was dear to her friends and sister, and she didn't know how to react. She had been looking forward to seeing him on Morty's second birthday, but this was too horrible. She looked at the others, but they were silent. Lightning was pacing around, as if unsure of what to do.

The next week passed like a blur. To the surprise of everyone, Hope started to improve rapidly. His right eye fully recovered, his tongue started to knit itself back together, and the ruins of his face slowly started to correct themselves. By the end of the week, he could, with the aid of some crutches, hobble around, as the doctors looked upon aghast.

"This is simply not possible. I don't even-" The doctor that was in charge of him murmured to a colleague one bright afternoon, barely 10 days after the arrival of the l'cie. The other doctor nodded.

"What do we have?"

"The splintered tendons and joints in the knee have almost fully repaired. The damage to the retina in the right eye has been fully healed. The tongue has knit itself back somehow, along with the ear and nose. This is superhuman. Rishi, we need to keep him here. Do tests. He could be the secret to better medical treatments for all people."

"I agree. The question is how do we convince the l'cie?"

"Impossible. Those…criminals…would likely start another war. But we don't need to keep him."

"Then how?"

"We haven't taken a blood sample yet, have we?"

"No. He showed no signs of pathology."

"Then lets do that. It'll give us something to work with at least."

—()-)-(-()—

"Its time to go Hope," Lightning said. She looked at him, relief flooding her at the sight of his rapidly healing injuries. She didn't know how it was possible. Maybe a remnant of l'cie power was still inside him. Hope had always been the best at healing. He looked up at her. Already his eyes were more intense than she had ever remembered. They positively shone with energy, if not emotion.

"Ok." he said. His voice clear and powerful. Was this really Hope? He grabbed his crutch and staggered over to her. He waved away the hovering wheelchair.

"Let's just leave." he said. _Now he really had no one._ The other L'cie had once been like family to him, but that had been a long time ago now.

He followed Lightning outside the hospital. The doctors had been strangely reluctant to let him leave, but after Lightning had started to get angry, they complied. He knew something was wrong. Nobody healed like that. His mind cast back to that dream, where a purple haired woman with a beautiful smile had stabbed his chest with a giant syringe. He wondered if he was going crazy. But people who are crazy live in ignorance to that fact. _One last gift from the Maker._ He ditched the crutches-the pain from walking was fast receding.

A heavy wind greeted him as he walked outside, but he barely felt it. The exit of the hospital was on the 20th floor, and was only accessible via taxi. He watched as Snow typed something on his phone, and a small object in the distance broke off from the crowded skylines, changing trajectory and approaching them. Like nearly all flying vehicles it was fully autonomous-no one could be trusted to fly a craft in such busy skies. As it approached, Hope got a better look at it. It had a green paint job with yellow stripes. The gravity engine at the back hummed down as it landed and the doors slid open.

"Are you sure you don't need those crutches? Wouldn't want you falling down now!" Sazh called out. Hope just nodded.

They got in a taxi, and Hope looked outside as it floated up, revealing the skyline of New Cocoon, as it joined the Skyway. The taxi was large-it needed to be to fit so many people. Hope was sitting next to Snow. He desperately wanted to sleep. The nightmares were bad, but real life was worse. He could awaken from the nightmares. He leaned his head against Snow and quickly passed into the dreamworld, as the car flew through the air, on a cold, overcast evening.


	3. If not in haste, then how?

Snow looked over at Hope's sleeping form in surprise. He hadn't expected Hope to lean against him. Hope had always been too consumed with hatred, and when that hatred had vanished awkwardness had replaced it. Snow smiled down at the sleeping boy and wrapped his arm around him.

"You're safe now."

"Whoever did this. They'll pay." Lightning muttered, a darker expression on her face, as she scowled at the city below.

"That's not what he needs right now!" Sarah snapped. "Look, I might not know him like you guys do, but I swear to the Maker Claire, you better not fill his head with vengeance. He needs time to recover and heal. Not going around chasing phantoms."

"Who is he staying with?" Sazh asked. Not that it really mattered. They all lived next to each other anyway.

"With us of course," Serah replied. Lightning made out as if she would object, but her sister was quicker.

"You can barely look after yourself, never mind someone who's probably gonna be suffering from trauma like Hope is. It's not as if you're ever at home anyway. You're right next door, so it's not like you won't see him. The car was silent, and they slowly made their way to the airport. Lightning didn't look convinced.

Hope awoke bleary eyed, and straightened himself. He felt better, physically at least. Emotionally he was still numb.

"How are you feeling?" Sarah asked gently. Hope looked at her and smiled. He saw no reason to shut them out. Right now they were all he had. He was profusely grateful for that fact. He had only met Serah once, after the fall of Cocoon. It had been 2 years since then, and she had clearly changed a lot. He didn't remember her having so forceful a tone back then and he noted the slight bags under her skin. She was a mother now, he remembered.

"I'm feeling better but I…I…really miss him," he said, as his voice broke. "When mum died, I was running for my life, but now I have nowhere to go, and I see him everywhere I look. Maker tell me this is a dream, I should be in school now! I should-I should never have-I'll never-I'll never miss an alarm again. I'll wake up early every day and and and-Oh Dad, please come back. Please," He broke into quite sobs and closed his eyes, feeling the hot tears slide down his face.

"We're here for you Hope," Lightning said.

"Thank you," he sobbed. After crying, he felt strangely better and the sadness started to slowly slip away. _Whats going on?_ Hope panicked. Something was in his mind, he was sure of it. It was chewing on his distress, just as he was now sure it had eaten away his wounds. It was him and yet very definitely not him. Alien and sinister. He opened his eyes, and looked out the window, watching the grasslands of Pulse sweep by-they had long since passed New Cocoon.

It took another ten minutes to reach the airport. It was fairly small- not many people used airship, the railway connections were far cheaper. The airport was located some distance from the centre of the city, and here the wildness of Pulse still reigned supreme. It was a fairly safe area fortunately, but he still noted with a repressed shiver that the only thing separating them from the monsters of Pulse was a steel fence. A distant howl did nothing for his mood.

"Terminal 2," Sazh said as he fished the tickets out of his pocket. The flight leaves in an hour. "How about we stop at a cafe?"

"I could do with some food," laughed Snow, as he rubbed his stomach. He suddenly looked ashamed and glanced at Hope, who shrugged.

"I'm kinda hungry too," he replied. Snow's face brightened and he put his left arm on Hopes shoulders.

"Great!" Snow grinned. Hope didn't even mind. He allowed himself to be carried away by his old friends. The sadness was still there like pregnant clouds stepped to give birth at any moment, threatening to overwhelm him, but never quite managing to. It was held at bay by something. Right now, he was grateful. They checked into their flight before hunting around for a cafe.

"The Shackled Dog. Imaginative huh?" Sazh quipped.

"Shouldn't it be collar daddy?" Dajh asked. "Don't dogs wear collars?"

"Uh sure they do Dajh." To everyone's surprise Hope replied. He took a seat next to the young boy and began to talk to him. Dajh eagerly accepted. Snow exchanged glances with the others. This was going better than they had expected. They had expected him to retreat into a shell and push them away, but it seemed like he was doing the opposite. As Hope chatted away to the young boy, Snow leaned in against Sazh and whispered.

"What's going on?"

"How am I supposed to know?"

"I thought he was meant to be more…moody," that's the Hope I remember." Snow replied.

"You know I can hear you," Hope said. "I mean you're two feet away from me."

There was awkward silence, and Hope sighed. He continued talking to Dajh.

Serah raised her eyebrows at Snow, and looked over at Lightning, who was looking at the menu.

"What you thinking sis?" Snow asked.

"The lemon tart looks good." She said. Hope glanced up at her sharply. He remembered her being extremely averse to that title. What had changed? _What have I missed?_ They all seemed to have gotten much closer than he had ever remembered them being. Like a true family. He felt distant, like an outsider. The fact that it had all been his doing didn't help much either.

"I'm thinking just a coffee," Serah said. At that moment a waiter arrived and took the orders. He was a young man, perhaps thirty with a scraggy, untrimmed beard and large rimmed glasses. He seemed friendly enough. Hope ordered an Ice Tea. Even though it was the middle of winter- and Pulsian winters were cold up here in the steppes, he still felt hot. Unbearably so in fact. The strange thing was that he was not sweating. He asked Serah to check his temperature, but she said his forehead felt normal. He didn't know what was happening, and he was scared.

"An Ice Tea Hope? Really?" Serah asked. Hope didn't answer. _Whats that voice? Those screams?_ He thought he saw a shadow on the edge of his vision. Swallowing, he forced himself to answer. None of the others had detected anything wrong.

"My throats…uh…a bit sore. I just kind of want something to soothe it, you know?"

The next twenty minutes passed without incident, and Hope tried to calm himself. The last thing he wanted to do was worry anyone. The Ice Tea was actually lemony, and in his opinion pretty good. Lightning paid the bill, and they left. They walked to Terminal 2, a fairly small building, by Pulse standards. It had been built by hand-It was fairly recent, and lately excavated Manufacturing Units couldn't be wasted on single buildings. As they entered the building, a cold blast of air greeted them.

"I mean its winter! Why do they have to have the air con on?" Sazh complained. Everyone ignored him. Judging by the way Lightning rolled her eyes, this wasn't the first time he had complained about this. They approached the waiting room, for their flight. Hope suddenly realised that they had no baggage.

"Do you have no luggage?" he asked uncertainly.

"You were out for most of the last 10 days. We didn't all stay in New Cocoon-I mean Sis and Sazh did, but the rest of us were busy." Snow explained.

"Yeah, we had to arrange to move all of your stuff from your house to Kankoon." Serah said gently. Hope simply nodded, accepting everything. He didn't know what else to do, and he had bigger problems. Like a puddle, constantly deepening from errant drops, the alien presence in his mind was intensifying. Even his grief was starting to recede, replaced by fear.

The airship had landed, and was being prepared. Sazh handed the tickets to a woman at the entrance to a tunnel, leading to the aircraft.

"Mr. Katzroy, it'll be another 15 minutes or so,"

"Thats fine," he smiled. He turned around and held out his arms. "I guess we're waiting!"

Hope took a seat. The waiting room was fairly small, with thirty or so blue cushioned seats. There was a holographic display on one end of the room. It was displaying some sort of advertisement.

 _"Feeling hungry in the rain? Is it raining and you're hungry? Walking in the rain, and you don't wan't to get wet, but you also want to eat? Of course you do! Who doesn't? A staple of Reru culture! Introducing the new "Eatabrella"! Its an umbrella, but its eatable! If you have an Eatabrella nearby, you'll never be hungry. You'll always have something to eat! Introducing the new Eatabrella! Now in chocolate and strawberry flavour!"_

 _Note: May get soggy if wet._

"Daddy, I want an Eatabrella!" Dajh tugged on Sazh's coat sleeve.

"How can you have a culture after only 2 years!" Sazh muttered. "Pretentious ba-" The rest of his sentence was hidden under more unintelligible mumblings.

"Daddy!"

"Ok! Ok! Fine! But don't get it wet this time!" Sazh gave in and let Dajh drag him to the nearest general goods store.

Hope watched them go, and turned back to the hologram. Reru, the second largest of the Triangle, New Cocoon of course being the largest. It claimed to have the best food on all of Pulse, not that he would know. He had after all never left New Cocoon. There was a picture of Reru on the wall, and of course he had looked it up on the Internet; one of the first things that the new settlers had installed. Unlike New Cocoon, which was dominated by the enormous skyscrapers, both Krantos and Reru, were more low key. They still had skyscrapers in their city centre, but most of the cities were low lying and spread out. Reru, far to the East, bordered a desert, and pictures of the towering dunes and lush Oasis that dotted the region were carved in his mind. Dad had promised to take him one day. Now it looked like he would have to go alone.

"I'll take enough pictures of the both of us, I promise," he whispered to himself.

The display was still playing. It seemed to be the news.

 _Earlier this month, a Manufacturing Unit class Package was excavated in Soma, 80 miles North of New Cocoon. It is the first Manufacturing Unit discovered in three months, and with this discovery, the third Package capable of large scale production. Soma residents, long under siege by the Pulse fauna, and dependent on the already heavily burdened Guardian Corps and Psicom have been greeting this news enthusiastically._

 _But some, are against it. With a population of only 30,000, many consider the deployment of such a precious Package absurd. The Yelwa region, occupying the land between Reru and Krantos, boasts a rapidly growing population ten times the size. Somans say that Yelwa is already a large, if not major city, with full municipal capabilities. Regardless, the Law is clear, Packages excavated in a region, belong to that regions local government. The New Sanctum will not interfere. It appears, that soon, the Triangle will become a Square._

"It won't be a square." Sazh said, having returned. "It'll just be a disfigured triangle."

"Oh! This wait is killing me!" Snow exhaled loudly and covered his eyes with his palms as he leaned back on the chair heavily.

"Its been 5 minutes Snow." Serah said.

"Yeah, but I just wanna, go, you know? Whats with this pointless waiting?"

Hope closed his eyes. He leaned back and waited. He was not, after all, in a hurry.


	4. The Kalhoa

Disclaimer: I don't own FF13!

{Hope is going to start acting OOC as a number of big changes happen to him. It makes sense in the context of the story. Everyone else however is fully in character.}

Once the gates opened, they streamed into the connective tunnel that linked the building to the airship-called the Kalhoa. There were a few other people as well, but Hope didn't pay much attention to them. The walls of the tunnel were covered with holographic ads that flickered into and out of existence. The airship itself was massive, far larger than it needed to be. There were only a handful of people in the waiting room. Hope felt someone brush his shoulders and turned to see Lightning looking at him. Subtle traces of worry were etched on her face. He glanced at her face for perhaps a second too long, for her brows furrowed and she looked away. He wondered what kind of expression he had been making.

They entered a giant central space. The carpet was a deep blue, and surrounded by transparent planes of curved glass that allowed the passengers to command a view of the entire world around them. A metre between the glass walls and the start of the blue carpet was white marble inlaid with gold designs. Towards the front of the space was a rectangular roofless bar. Two girls were already dressed and ready.

"The flight isn't long-about 2 hours." Sazh said. Hope nodded mindlessly.

"Got it. I think I need to sit down."

"Something is wrong with Hope." She told them, as she continued to watch him.

"Of course something is wrong with him sis! His dad just died." Snow raised his arms as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. Lightning gave him a side glance and curled her lips into a imperceptible snarl of contempt. She had grown to like Snow, not that she would ever admit it, but he could be a complete moron.

"That's not what I mean. His eyes have grown greener and that quick recovery time?" Lightning shook her head. "It doesn't add up."

"What are you talking about? How can his eyes grow greener? That's dumb." Snow laughed. "You just have to relax sis!"

Lightning clenched her fists, but did not otherwise move. Hope was leaning on the railings, looking outside, but she could see that his mind was somewhere else. She knew something was afoot with him. The expression on his face when they had looked at each other in the connective tunnel was an expression she had never seen before. Haunting and beautiful. A melancholic resignation of the pulling of the curtain. What that curtain was, and what it was being pulled over, she had no clue. He didn't look much like a boy anymore, and that worried her. She had been forced to grow up too fast, and she didn't want the same for Hope.

"Snow, how about a drink?" She asked. He turned and looked at her suspiciously. Lightning almost never asked for a drink. And with him? _Never_.

"Uh..," he continued to eye her. She gave him a grin. It was the grin of a wolf, looking at its helpless prey. He followed her to the bar, and stumbled slightly, as the airship growled to life. A slight vibration marked the activation of the engines.

"Departing." The short click of the Captain.

The airship rose slowly, and Snow regained his footing. He sat down next to Lightning.

"Sis?" he asked, bewildered. His wife was happily chatting to Sazh and Dajh and hadn't even noticed their disappearance.

"Strawberry Cactus." she ordered. _More like demanded_ Snow scoffed.

"Shot of whisky. On the rocks." He winked at the bargirl as he flashily pointed at her, his hand an upwards pointing 'L'.

She gave him a professional smile and set about preparing the drinks. His grin faltered. Was he losing it? Girls _loved_ his point and wink. At least it had worked on Serah.

"Look you doofus, I need you to help me convince Serah, that Hope needs to stay with me."

"Yeah sure, whate-" Snow began, before turning to look at her incredulously. "What? Now way sis!"

"He has to." Lightning said cooly.

"Why?" he asked suspiciously. "If he lives with us, I can hang out with him more. I haven't seen him for 2 years!"

Lightning closed her eyes for a second.

"I need to protect him," she said.

"Protect him? From what? Bullies? Trust me, I've got his back." Snow replied punching his fists together.

"I…I don't know. I have a feeling." She shot back.

"Look sis. I appreciate you trying to help, but that's my job."

"What?" she icily said.

"I promised his mother that I would keep him safe. That's my job. Plus you're always at work."

"No I'm not. My duty finishes at 6. I have the weekends off."

"Oh." he replied. _How did he not know that?_

"Perks of being on duty in a sleepy town." She sighed. "Look Snow, something is definitely wrong, and I'm not talking about his father. I can't put my finger on it, but I know Hope, or at least I used to."

She was distracted from her train of thought, by the arrival of the drinks. The Strawberry Cactus was brightly coloured mix of strawberry red and lime green. She took a large sip, disregarding the straw, and then refocused on Snow.

"Just do it." she said with finality. Snow could only look at her helplessly. When she had that tone, it was final. He downed his shot and left the bar, an uncharacteristic scowl on his face. _Am I being selfish?_

Hope watched the clouds roll by underneath him with little interest. His thoughts were all over the place, channel hopping from thoughts of his dad, to that strange lady with purple hair and that ominously glowing syringe, to his am I going to do?

"I am changing." he whispered to himself. He knew it was to do with that strange episode back at the hospital. He was starting to think recklessly, his inhibitions fading, just like the grief for his father. _Will I disappear as well?_

 ** _[That depends on what you define I as]._** A loud voice. There is no time here. Hope doesn't turn. He knows the voice is inside his head.

 _Who are you?_ He trembles. **[I am you].** _Get out of my head! [_ ** _Absurdity Human]._**

And like that, there is darkness all around him. He looks around, searching for the airship.

 _Uh uh wh-what do you want from me? **[**_ ** _Nothing…yet]._**

 _Who are you?_ Once more. [ ** _I am fal'cie]._** _What the fuck? No…Oh Maker…[_ ** _I find your attitude offensive. I did not choose to be here either]._** _A fal'cie…a fal'cie a… **[**_ ** _Are human minds so weak?]_**

 _What are you doing to me monster?_ A ripple in the darkness. A face appears. It is giant. Purple light shines behind the orifices. It is smiling. It does not look malevolent. [ ** _Melding. I will take monster as a compliment]._** Hope is taken aback. The fal'cie's voice is laden with sarcasm. Hope slowly sits down on the darkness, even though there is no floor. _This is it Hope. I'm going insane. Insane. Is this what is feels like? Do all crazy people have monsters in their head? [_ ** _I am fal'cie]._** _Shut the hell up!_ Hope rises quickly. He points at the purple head. _You're not real!_ He says with determination. [ ** _I am as real as you]._** _Why would a fal'cie be in my head. Fal'cie's are like Gods!_ ** _[How many fal'cie have you met?]_** _Enough to know that they don't act like you! **[**_ ** _Humour me. Then maybe I will go]._** Uncertainty. Hope sits back down. _Whats melding?_ More uncertainty. Is he really having this conversation? A weary resignation. If he is going mad, then he is going mad. He doesn't care anymore. ** _[I have access to all of your memories, desires and wants. You will soon have access to all of mine]._** _What are you doing to my head? **[**_ ** _Such anger. I am only helping you! The loss of the father was causing critical instability. I purged the emotions]._** _You did what? **[**_ ** _Unfortunately it's created ripples. Your behaviour may be…erratic until everything settles down]._** _Get OUT of my head. **[**_ ** _I was sealed long ago by Ancient Pulsians. My essence stripped and sealed in the serum. I have no way of leaving. There is no way of removing me]._** A gathering of pressure. Building. _Please leave me. I don't want this. This can't be happening. **[**_ ** _Shut up! Why do humans whine so much?]_** The pressure exploding.

 ** _My name is Razniel. We are melded._** A shock of electricity runs through Hope. Alien memories plunge through him. _Oh Maker. You're real? Shit…shit…shit…_ Then he sees it. Disfigured, ripped and rotting faces. Tentacles and sharp needle teeth. Death and an all pervading sickness of nature. Sickness.

 _What is that?_ Terror. _**[**_ ** _It is Sickness. It is making a return. When it does it will swallow everything. It is corruption. In years forgotten, the gods fought it, but could not defeat it. They sealed it. But that seal is breaking, and the true gods are gone]._** _What about Etro? And Bhunivelze, and Pulse? **[**_ ** _The true gods are the personifications of the abstractions of the universe. The counterpart to Sickness. The beings you named are not Gods. Merely our creators]._** _How long do we have?_ ** _[A few hundred thousand years]._** _What? I thought you said it was making a return. You scared me for a second!_ Hope laughs. This is so absurd. He looks around, and gasps. _The darkness is gone! **[**_ ** _There never was darkness. Your human mind could not comprehend the nature of this place]._** _Where are we?_ ** _[In between time]._** _It is beautiful._

 ** _[Here is how things are going to go down Hope. I have been sealed for a long time. Before that I was a puppet, following the orders of my creator. A creator who has long since gone. Do you know what I had to do Hope?]_** _You had to clean the mess of other fal'cie. **[**_ ** _That's right. I was a garbage fal'cie. I had no choice then. No free will. But now I do. Now, we're going to have fun]._** _I can't strange! They're already getting suspicious. **[**_ ** _Then act in character around them]._** _I'm starting to forget what 'in-character even means'! It's your fault. Your memories are too much. We are both dead. **[**_ ** _But together we can be something greater]._**

The cacophony of strings tugging and pulling at each other, overlooking the starry cosmos starts to fade. Around Hope, the world is starting to take shape again, and the familiar sight of the airship lounge came into view. He breathed deeply. The memories of Razniel flowed through him and he shuddered. He looked up towards the window, a new person. He looked at his hand and willed there to be fire. A small fireball erupted in his palm. He closed his eyes. He could, if he concentrated, hear every conversation in the room. He felt cold and detached. He couldn't remember what it was like before the melding.

Razniel was young, but he had over 1000 years of experience. It washed over Hope, swimming with his mere 16. _Could he even be called Hope anymore?_

 ** _[I want alcohol]._**

 _You're kidding. No._

But he started wanting it too. Razniel's desires echoed back to him. _**[**_ ** _Do you know how boring being a fal'cie is? I want the human experience]._**

 _I can't. I'm 16. This is not the right time. If Lightning saw me… **[**_ ** _Oh. Can you talk to some girls at least?]_**

 _Um, but what should I say? **[**_ ** _Anything. It probably doesn't matter]._** _What do you mean?_ _ **[**_ ** _Being half fal'cie makes you pretty good looking. You are half divine now kid. Go get some]._** Hope almost yelped, touching his face. _What did you do? **[**_ ** _What do you mean?]_** _You can't go changing my face! **[**_ ** _Our face]._** _People will get suspicious. **[**_ ** _Your facial features haven't changed…much but there can be no hiding the radiant light of the fal'cie. It is likely that Humans will interpret your divinity as beauty. Humans already familiar with you should not be affected however.]_**

He saw Lightning sitting by the bar, as he turned around, and decided to talk to her. He needed to hear a sensible voice. _**[**_ ** _She's beautiful. Go get her.]_** _Are you mad? **[**_ ** _What do you mean?]_** _Have you checked the memories? **[**_ ** _No]._** _Well go check the memories on her. **[** — _**_Oh]._** _I'd have more luck convincing Sazh to have a threesome!_

Hope stopped suddenly. _Where did that come from?_ he thought. Razniel rudely interrupted. _**[**_ **Our personalities are mixing. I have a…great sense of humour _]_.** _Oh Maker help me. **[**_ ** _I really like Lightning]._** _Please stop. It's never going to happen. **[**_ ** _Never say never]._**

He continued walking to Lightning, slowly this time, paying furious attention to his mind, trying to detect anything weird. He arrived.

"Hey Light!" he smiled at her. She looked at him and started. _**[**_ ** _You're meant to be sad]._** _Why? I feel great! **[**_ ** _Your dad died]._** _Oh crap! I forgot! **[**_ ** _That is quite legitimately awful. You should feel bad.]_**

Hope took a seat next to her. He felt high. At the moment sadness was a foreign feeling. He hoped it wasn't permanent.

"Hope…you look different."

"In a good way or a bad way?" he grinned. He actually couldn't help it.

"Hope…I'm worried about you."

Hope took a deep breath. "Light…I've just melded with a fal'cie, and you wouldn't believe how I'm feeling right now! Just great! Like a god! His name is Razniel, and-"

He stopped, as he took in Lightning's expression. The extreme concern there, led him to shut up.

"Look please don't worry about me Light. I'm just trying to be cheerful. I don't want to brood. You guys pitying me just makes me feel worse."

"Pity?" Light grabbed his shoulders and shook her head. "I'm not pitying you Hope. I am worried about you. But _we_ , all of us, are going to help you get through it. I promise," she looked at him in the eyes, and he nodded.

"Would you like anything to drink sir?" the bargirl asked. She gave him a shy smile, and Hope could see a faint blush in her cheeks.

 _She's blushing?_ **You're eyes have fal'cie power now kid.** _This is too good to be true!_

He purposely met her eyes, ignoring the warnings of Razniel and felt a heat of excitement come over him.

"Anything?" his voice dripping with suggestions. The faint blush on the girl exploded.

"Um..Um…Well we have a …decent stock…I mean selection of drinks."

"What if I want _you_?"

"You want me?"

"Hope!" Lightning was looking at him, for the first time ever, mouth agape. Hope rolled his eyes and leaned in to her.

"What?" he whispered annoyed, most of his attention on the girl.

"What are you doing?" she had a particularly chilly voice.

"What do you think I am doing? I'm trying to _score._ Stop cock-blocking me Light!" he whispered to her. If he had paid attention to her expression, instead of turning back to the bar girl, he may have shat himself. She stood up suddenly, and pulling painfully on his ear dragged him away from the bar.

"I don't know what's going on with you Hope, but you're not acting normal. Sit down, where I can keep an eye on you." She threw him on to the chair next to Sazh. Sarah and Snow looked at them curiously. Lightning just glared at Hope, who had the sense to look down guiltily. It was not a feign this time. The euphoria was slowly fading away. Suddenly the dam burst, and all the hidden emotions returned. His throat once again constricted as he thought of his father. But it was like before. Painful, but not crippling. And the seeds of rebellion had been sown. He was still Hope, but a new Hope.


	5. Awkward conversations

"Whats up with you?" Sazh asked as he took in Lightning's thunderous expression.

"He," she said pointing to a downward looking Hope, was trying to…seduce the bargirl."

"I'm sorry," he stammered. I…I don't know what I was thinking." It was true. Hope was mortified. **_[She liked you though]._** Lightning's expression softened slightly. I know Hope. Just sit there. We'll be home soon."

"No we wont. We're still two and a half hour away sis!" Snow said cheerfully, ignoring the venomous look from Lightning.

"Let's go Snow." Sarah said, as she pulled on her husband.

"Huh? Where?"

"Just come on."

"I'm…I'm going to go to the bar." Sazh said. He left Dajh sitting a few chairs away. But the boy was busy playing on his handheld console, and didn't so much as even notice. Lightning sat down next to him. Hope inwardly sighed. This was going to be awkward.

"Hope…"

Hope deliberately looked to the other side of the room. There was an elderly woman walking around. Pacing really. She walked a couple of steps forward, and then a couple of steps back.

"I understand what you're going through." She sighed. "My parents died when I was young too, remember? You have to…You have to be strong."

"Yeah," he replied. She looked to the side distractedly.

"How have you been for the last two years? We've all missed you."

"Good," he replied, as he thought of what to say next. "After Cocoon fell, I just wanted a new start. Whilst we were all together at the refugee camp…you know before any of the Packages were discovered, I was…considering joining the new Guardian Corps."

" _What?"_

"Yeah. I mean, what else was I going to do? But after the Packages were discovered, everything changed. The two MU's were used to create Krantos and New Cocoon. You guys left for Krantos, wanting to be away from the New Sanctum. But, I couldn't."

"You never told us _why_." she asked gently.

"My dad had gotten a post as Head of Internal Affairs, at the New Sanctum. He couldn't leave New Cocoon, and besides I was embarrassed."

"You shouldn't have been."

"Yeah, I know. I joined high school, and that became my life. I tried to forget about the l'cie days. I just wanted to move on. Going to school, making new friends. I had a new _life_ Light. It was what I always wanted. To forget that nightmare."

"To forget _us."_ There was a trace of anger in her voice. Hope didn't seem to notice it. He shrugged.

"To forget it all. I _killed_ people Light. Maybe that's not so important for someone like you. But it hurt _me._ "

Lightning looked ever so slightly stung. This conversation wasn't going the way she wanted it to.

"They were our enemies Hope. We had no choice."

"Enemies? They were puppets of the fal'cie, just like us. They had families, just like us. They had Nora's and Serah's too. And we butchered them. Who wouldn't want to forget that?"

"Hope…" she said trailing off. How could she reply to that? She hadn't even thought of it, of any of the enemies that she had killed. But Hope obviously had, and it had been bothering him. She cursed herself. How could it _not_ bother him? He wasn't a solider. He had been a 14 year old boy. She closed her eyes, trying to think, but Hope continued.

"How can I even be sad that my father died? How many fathers did I kill?"

"Stop that Hope!" Lightning put her hand on his cheek and turned it to face her.

"That _is_ in the past. We _didn't_ have a choice. It was either kill or be killed. But we have to move on. You have to move on. You can't let it dominate your life forever Hope."

Hope said nothing. He had nothing to say.

"It's the damn fal'cie." she spat, uncharacteristic emotion showing on her face.

 ** _[What a bitch! I've changed my mind, I don't like her]._** _Yes you do. Stop lying._

Hope fought back a bitter laugh, wondering what she would say if she realised he was now half fal'cie.

"What about you guys?" he asked. "What have you been up to for the last 2 years?"

"We all live on the same street, one the beach in Kankoon."

"What's that?"

"A small suburb, on the beach. On the edge of Krantos."

"You guy's all live in one house?"

Lightning snorted. "No way. We're all on the same street. Different houses though. Sarah, Snow and Sazh run a hotel."

"What about you?"

"Not much. Same as always. There is always enemies to fight. We've barely got the monsters under control. I've…been thinking about taking the GC officer exam." Her tone was as cold as always, almost devoid of emotion.

"Oh really? I'm sure you'll pass."

Lightning didn't say anything but looked away.

He really didn't want to be having this conversation. There was silence for a few moments, that incredibly only proved to be more awkward than the stilted conversation. He tried to change the topic.

"So Light, got a boyfriend yet?"

"What? No." she replied, surprised by the change of topic.

"Why am I not surprised?" he muttered. Unfortunately she heard.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she demanded, crossing her arms.

"If you tried acting more like a woman, instead of some cold robot, maybe you would have a boyfriend. It's kinda embarrassing your younger sister got married before you."

 ** _[Out of character. You're meant to be more timid. Apologise and stammer fool]._** _Shut up! I'm bored of that. If I do that she's just gonna treat me like a child, and I'm sick of that!_

Lightning was silent for several moments as she processed what he was saying. He had obviously changed. What had happened to the timid boy? She liked _that_ Hope better.

"I don't want to get married and I don't want to get a boyfriend. That's final." she said, coldly, looking away.

"More like can't."

"Whats that supposed to mean?" she demanded.

"You've had 2 years Light. Even I had a girlfriend."

 ** _[Thats a lie]._** _Shut up._

Lightning looked at him in surprise. Then she looked distractedly away. This wasn't a conversation she ever thought she would be having with Hope. She looked at him again. He wasn't looking at her. For some reason, he was paying more attention to some old lady in a red sweater on the far side of the room. She had had this conversation with Serah many times, and it always made her uncomfortable. _I don't need anyone. I have Serah, why can't that be enough?_

She looked at Hope again. He didn't seem particularly bothered whether she replied or not, and his lack of interest took some of the pressure off. She was hesitant to reply though. _I shouldn't be talking about this with him._

"I don't want one okay." she said. Her eyes were fixed straight ahead of her.

"I know." Hope replied taking his eyes of the old lady. She was still pacing.

"What?" she asked, confused.

"You never seemed like you wanted a boyfriend Light," Hope said gently. It was almost as if he was comforting her. She didn't like it at all.

"Don't get cocky." she warned.

"If you don't like the train, how about the tunnel? You a lesbian Light?"

 ** _[You a moron? Why would you say that? Now theres no chance!]_** _Look you shit cleaning fal'cie. She plans on forcing me to live with her._ _I can hear Snow talking about it to Serah. They're right next to that old lady, by the bar._ ** _[Awesome!]_** _How is that awesome? You want to make my life a living hell? She's a goddamn solider! Our lives will be like a bootcamp. You can forget about having fun. It'll be shit!_ ** _[So you're making her hate you?]_** _She's not going to hate me, just realise that I'm not 14 years old anymore, and perhaps its inappropriate to live alone with a 16 year old boy._ ** _[That's actually quite clever]._**

Lightning was sure she must have heard wrong. This was _Hope_. Not even Snow would dare say anything like that to her.

"What did you say?" icicles almost forming from the coldness in her voice.

"I said do you like girls? I remember you having a thing with Fang. You used to stare at Vanille a lot too." Hope lied. She had done so such thing.

Lightning didn't know how to react, her mouth worked noiselessly. She had never been so shocked in her life. When had Hope ever been this… _bold_?

"I did not," she replied acidly. She was starting to get angry.

Hope didn't reply. He was looking at the old lady again, seeming like he was concentrating.

Hope got up, bored. He decided to see what the others were doing, leaving a shocked Lightning to look after Dajh.

Lightning watched him go. She didn't know what to say. She had signalled the others to leave, to give her some time alone with the boy, hoping to comfort him. It hadn't worked at all. He had obviously grown. The hero worship in his eyes from their l'cie days had completely gone. He had been talking to her…like an _equal_. The only person who ever did that was Serah. Even Sazh and Snow walked on eggshells around her. They had gotten closer, but if she got angry, she still wouldn't hesitate to punch them. _Happened last week actually._

She didn't think she could punch Hope. She wasn't even angry. Not really. She was worried that he was putting on an act, to avoid dealing with his feelings. It was what she had done, when her parents had died. It was why she became a 'cold robot.' She still couldn't believe that he had actually called her that. She clenched her fists and made to get up. She would shake some sense into him. A rustle nearby, however, alerted her to the presence of Dajh. She couldn't just leave him. Sazh would probably get mad. She recrossed her arms and glared at everyone who happened to come near her. More than ever, Hope needed to stay with her. Someone needed to straighten him out. She couldn't trust Snow-he'd probably get worse, and Serah barely knew him. It wasn't fair to put that extra stress on her. The GC officer corps would just have to wait.

Hope took a seat at the bar next to Serah. He tried to ignore the perfume that was emanating from her. It smelled like the faint scent of fresh roses.

"Hey Hope. How are you feeling."

Hope didn't really know how to answer. The sadness which had returned when Lightning dragged him away from the bar had quickly disappeared. He felt normal now-the elation hadn't returned.

"I'm feeling better I guess. Especially that you guys are here."

"Right on Hope!" Snow exclaimed from the other side of Serah. He grinned, and then just as suddenly the grin slid off. "Hope, I have bad news…"

Hope leaned in front of Serah, to get a better view of him.

"What bad news?"

"It's sis." he said. "She wants you to live with her."

Hope said nothing. He just looked downwards, at the wooden counter of the bar.

"It may be for the best." Sarah put in. Hope turned to look at her.

"Baby…"

"Snow, she's lonely. I'm sure of it. Having Hope would be some welcome company I think."

"Pfft. _Her_ lonely? I'm not buying that." he replied. Hope just continued looking down.

"You never did finish that order…" a bright voice came from across the counter. It was the bargirl from before. She was blushing faintly. She was quite beautiful, Hope realised. She was brown skinned, with black hair and brown eyes. He fought to keep himself from blushing.

 _I was flirting with her?_ ** _[Yes]._** _How?_

Hope glanced sideways, but the others were focused elsewhere. Snow was arguing with Serah about him staying and Sazh was just sleeping on the counter. Hope eyed the menu. He had about 50 gil in his pocket. He wanted to order 'Sex on the Beach', but he couldn't even begin to countenance the thought of actually saying it.

"Guttermilk and coke." Guttermilk was a type of whisky that he had seen on ads. He hoped she had it. He didn't know any other brands.

 ** _[You're doing it? What about the other humans?]_** _That's why I said with coke._ ** _[Will this work?]_** _Watch and learn fal'cie._

He could feel the excitement building within him. Whether it was his or Razniel's, he couldn't tell. It was probably Razniel's. He would never do something like this otherwise. The bargirl smiled and got to work. He noticed with relief that the others hadn't noticed. Snow and Serah were still arguing. Sazh had woken up, but was talking with the other bargirl. A large glass of fizzing black liquid was put on the counter infant of him, and Hope payed the 20 gil. Serah turned to him, ignoring the glass of coke.

"Hope have you thought about the future? Did you want to go back to school?"

"I'm going to sign up for Psicom."

There was silence. Evidently, there was still bad blood.

"Whoa whoa whoa, Hope. Think what you're saying! You wanna join up with Psicom?"

"I heard the new Psicom has a much better reputation."

"They're still assholes." Snow said darkly. He was rewards by a glare from Serah.

"Mind your mouth! He's still a kid."

"Yeah! A kid who wants to join Psicom. Look what about school or I mean the corps?"

"I wanted to be a scientist, but that was before…"

There was an awkward silence. They thought he was referring to his dad, but he was really referring to Razniel.

 ** _[Aren't Psicom massive assholes?]_** _Yeah so what?_ ** _[The Guardian Corps sounds like a better idea]._** _I don't want to keep the world safe. I'm going to find out who killed my father and who injected me with you. Then I'm going to rip them apart._ ** _[I see. And I assume the problem with the GC is that they don't condone murder. Lightning will kill you, you know]._** Hope hesitated. He hadn't thought of that. Joining Psicom could literally make her hate him. The extremely negative reaction from Snow only helped prove that point. ** _[Why not join the GC, and then commit whatever atrocities you plan on committing, in secret? That way you won't alienate the only people who actually care about you]._**

Hope listened to Razniel. As much as he didn't like to admit it, he cared what the others thought of him. He didn't want to be alone again. Plus, as Razniel had said, he could keep secrets.

"The corps?" Hope said, still unsure.

"Son, don't get any willy-nilly ideas of joining the military. Your father may have passed away, but that doesn't mean you get to make stupid decisions." Sazh said, in a stern voice, with a hard edge.

"You need to finish school Hope," Serah said gently. He only nodded, sipping on his coke.

"School?" the bargirl repeated in disbelief. Hope snapped his neck upwards, as he stopped sucking on his straw. "How old are you?"

"Uh…uh," Hope stammered, chest pounding. _Razniel help me! What should I do?_ ** _[Tell her to piss off!]_** _That's a terrible idea!_ He couldn't think of anything else though.

"Go away." He muttered.

"He's 16." Serah said, narrowing her eyes at his response. "Why?"

"Oh my god! Shit…shit…I could get fired!" She grabbed his half-full drink from the counter."

"Is that coke?" she asked suspiciously.

"It's Guttermilk and coke." she said in a panic. "I'm so sorry. It's just…he doesn't look 16!"

There was silence at the bar. Hope stared assiduously at the counter, wanting to run away. He could hear Serah sigh at him.

"It's ok. It's ok. Look lets just not tell sis." Snow tried to calm the situation down.

"Ok? Snow, he was drinking whisky! When did he even order it?" she sounded close to a panic. Hope couldn't see why it was a big deal, but it obviously was.

"Hope? Look, I know that it hurts, but this is not the way ok. You cannot turn to alcohol to forget the pain. You have to stand up to it."

Hope could only nod.

"Ok. We'll keep this a secret from Claire." Sarah said, much more to herself than to him. _Who the hell is Claire?_

Hope looked up, and flinched when he saw the bargirl glaring at him. He looked away distractedly. He could see Lightning in the distance. Her arms were still crossed, and she was looking out the window. She seemed to be thinking about something. Hope got up, but found that he was slightly unsteady on his feet. The Guttermilk was strong, and was already affecting him. He managed to walk inconspicuously back to the seating area, and sat down heavily next to Lightning. Ignoring her, he closed his eyes. His face was still burning with embarrassment. It had been a catastrophically stupid idea to order that drink. He opened his eyes, relieved to find Lightning still staring out the window. He was about to scoot over to Dajh, when she talked to him, though she didn't face him.

"Hope…I want you to stay with me."

Hope closed his eyes again. This couldn't be happening. There was no way he could live alone with her. It would be too embarrassing. He made a last ditch attempt to save himself.

"Aren't you worried I'll peek on you in the shower?" he grinned. To his utter non-surprise, Lightning didn't grin back. Quick as her namesake, she grabbed Hope's nose, and pinched it painfully.

"Don't get cocky. You do that, I'll kill you."

"Ok. Ok, point taken," he replied gingerly, as she released his nose. "No need to get all arsey." he said inaudibly.

He looked out the same window as Lightning, as the airship sped towards Krantos. His future didn't look too bright. In fact, it looked positively awkward.


	6. Unravelling secrets

The doctor took one more look at the blood from under the microscope. It was astonishing. The lab was dimly lit-he was here after his shift, and he didn't want to alert anyone to his presence. It wasn't exactly illegal for him to be here, but at the very least people would ask questions. The monitor in front of him showed the boys blood cells-if they could even be described as such anymore. The cells even now, several hours after being taken from the patient showed no signs of dying. He had extracted enough blood to fill a test-tube, whilst the boy was sleeping. The majority of it was being kept in the cooling unit, with only a drop being spread onto a petri dish, for him to study. The blood showed no signs of drying.

On the monitor, the red cells, were almost _crackling_ with energy. Over the last several hours, the different parts of what could commonly be identified as a 'cell' had started to be phased out. The nucleus, the cell wall, the mitochondria…everything was disappearing. Replacing them was just a swirling vortex of purple energy. Thousands of these vortexes writhed in the cell. It was strange- from deep magnification, the cell was clearly purple, but the further one zoomed out, the redder it got. In the end the blood was still red. The doctor repositioned his falling glasses back up his nose and smiled. It was time for some experiments. He looked up as the door behind him opened, and his hands squeezed the table he was leaning on tightly. He breathed in relief as he realised it was his co-conspirator.

"How does it go Rick?" his colleague asked.

"Take a look for yourself!" Rick replied. His colleague- Rishi walked closer and narrowed his eyes.

"What kind of disease is that?"

"I don't even know if it is a disease. I was just about to run some experiments." Rick moved over to the cooling unit, and took out a vial labelled C-1.

 _C-1_

 _Contains mygdlea antolum strains of Plybacterium._

Antolum was a killer. It had been a severe problem when Cocoon had first fallen, but it had ceased to be so dangerous, when it was discovered that it was vulnerable to Ponpo, a common antibiotic. Still, it had taken a while for the first large scale drug factories to be set up, and in that time thousands had died. Ponpo was the only known remedy for Antolum. It was a savage bacterium, that ripped apart cells extremely quickly. It was only contagious through bodily fluids, mainly saliva, so it had not spread quickly. If you caught Antolum and there was no Ponpo at hand, life expectancy could be measured in a few days.

Rick unscrewed the cap of the sealed test-tube and using a pipette sucked up a drop of the liquid. He dropped it into the petri dish where the boys blood was. Rishi peered over his shoulder into the monitor. Antolum immediately started to attack. The blood cells shot what looked like lightning and the Antolum exploded. A few seconds later and it was over. Billions of the bacterium lay floating dead. Rick had his mouth agape. His colleague however kept his cool.

"Interesting. That was lightning."

"Lightning? Impossible. How can you have lightning through plasma?"

"Is it even blood plasma?"

"I…I don't know. I've zoomed in as far as I can go, but in between the blood cells there's only this purple haze. See?" Rick said, as he pointed at the monitor.

"His name was Hope right? Is this kid even human? Maybe he's one of the fal'cie?"

"Like Dysley?"

"Sure," Rishi replied.

"That doesn't make sense. Why would a fal'cie even have blood cells, never mind be taken out by a small explosion?"

Rishi was silent for a moment.

"What about half?"

"Half what?"

"Look, I don't know! Maybe his dad banged some fal'cie babe. And now he's some half human, had fal'cie hybrid."

There was silence, for a few moments. Rick started pacing around.

"That's crazy" he said.

"Crazier than red blood cells unleashing electric inferno against Antolum? You tell _me_ what's crazy?"

"This is big Rishi. I mean _big_. We have to tell the Sanctum."

"What do you think they'll do?"

"Anybody's guess."

()-()))-_

Hope sat in the taxi. He didn't want to admit it to himself but he was sulking. He was going to stay with Lightning. If there was someone else sharing the house, it wouldn't be such a problem, but the two of them alone together? It was obvious that she wasn't embarrassed in the least about the situation. She more than likely still saw him as a kid to be looked after. But there were certain advantages to that. Kids didn't cook, or clean or really do anything? He thought of ways that this could be fun, but he quickly ran out. And he would have to go to school. Once that would not have been a problem. He loved school. He _had_ loved school. He wondered how his friends at New Cocoon were doing. He thought back to Vin, and the last few moments they had spent together. He hoped that he hadn't been caught in the explosion. As soon as he got a new phone he would send them all messages. He gazed outside window at the scenery. Krantos really was beautiful-and huge. They had been flying over it for at least half an hour, and only now was the dense urban jungle beginning to give way to the suburbs. But whereas New Cocoon was all about straight and angular architecture, Krantos was full of curves, endless undulations. He noted with interest the sky roads. He had seen them on the internet of course, but seeing them in real life was far more impressive. Krantos, city centre had multiple layers of highways, called sky roads. They replaced the sky-lanes of New Cocoon, which weren't physical structures, but lit grids that directed air traffic. Krantos had physical roads. They were made from solidified hard light. He had no idea how they worked, and he was pretty sure no one on Krantos did either. They had formed of their own accord when the MU was city had just developed, and spread like a stain of water spreading throughout a tissue. Then the people had just moved in.

"Just like New Cocoon. It's so…empty" Hope said absentmindedly.

"The city can support hundreds of millions, but there's only around 7 now. But hey, at least there's space!" Sazh, sitting next to him said cheerfully.

Hope nodded and thought back to school.

"Do I have to go to school?" he asked. It was such a _waste._ Now that he was half fal'cie, he could do _anything._

"What else would you do?" Sazh replied.

"School is important Hope." Lightning said.

"You dropped out didn't you," he shot back. She didn't reply and looked out the window again. She looked uncomfortable with the seating arrangements, squeezed in between Snow and Sazh.

"What about the Guardian Corps," Snow asked. Hope suspected that he was bringing it up to forestall any notion of Psicom.

"What about the Guardian Corps?" Lightning asked sharply. "I hope you're not suggesting that Hope joins the military."

"The corps is more of a police force. I want to join Psicom."

There was silence. Snow sighed and put his hands in his head.

"What?" Lightning said angrily. "Absolutely not! You're going to school Hope."

"Why do you want to join Psicom?" Sazh asked.

"It sounds fun." he replied in an innocent tone.

"I can't believe we're talking about this. It's insane. No way." Lightning was taking it about as well as he thought she would.

"What about the Corps officer exam?" Hope asked.

"What about it?" Lightning replied dismissively.

"What's the age limit?"

"No age limit. If you can pass, they let you into the academy." She turned towards him. "Why?"

"I'll try that instead."

Lightning rolled her eyes. "Whatever." It was obvious that she was underestimating him. But then he doubted any 16 year olds had passed such an exam before. Not many 16 year olds were half fal'cie.

The taxi began to descend and it was obvious that they had arrived. The sky was turning a gorgeous hue of purple, and as the sun set it refracted orange light that reflected over the dazzling ocean.

"You live _here_?" Hope asked in disbelief. This was like a holiday resort. None of the buildings were particularly tall here, and the architecture was completely different to Krantos proper.

"This was built by us, no MU's here." Sazh said proudly. The buildings were mostly wooden, but well made. The streets were paved but Hope noticed that there were few cars. It looked remarkably like Bochum had once looked.

"See that building there?" Snow pointed. Hope followed his gaze. There was a large building near the centre of Kankoon. It was a fairly pretty building, made out of stone and wood, and overlooking the sea. It was built on great piers that dug into the water, offering a solid foundation. "That's our hotel. The Streaming Kankoon."

"Oh god, that's what you called it?" Hope replied. Lightning had her arms crossed and she rolled her eyes. He almost thought he heard her mutter 'Lame'.

The taxi didn't stop at the hotel, but carried on a few hundred metres further. It eventually landed next to a bunch of houses that were only metres from the sea. The taxi carried on its descent, until it was barely third centimetres from the sand of the beach. As the doors opened, Hope could hear the sound of the waves and he almost recoiled at the wave of humidity that slapped into him.

"It's hot!" he exclaimed. "Isn't it meant to be winter?"

"You think this is hot? You should wait for summer kid." Snow laughed as he ruffled the boys hair. Snow walked forwards approaching one of the houses. They were all large. There were three of them, all built of wood, and painted a light shade of blue. They opened directly onto the beach. Snow walked straight for the middle one. Hope followed. He saw Snow get a card from his pocket and press it to a black demarcation on the door. With a quiet beep, it unlocked. Hope followed him inside and sighed with relief as he felt the cool blow of air conditioning.

"We're home!" Snow called. A bored looking boy shuffled down the stairs.

"Hey Mr. Villiers."

"How's Morty?" he called.

Not for the first time, Hope cringed. _What was a Morty?_

"Sleeping."

The others began to pile into the House and Hope was forced to walk further inside. He slipped off his shoes and took a better look at the boy. He looked like he was around the same age. He had messy black hair and brown eyes. He wore shorts and a white t-shirt.

"Hi, I'm Hope!" he called out. The bored expression of the boy changed and he looked at Hope with interest.

"I'm Sil." he said in a friendly voice.

"Hope here is going to be staying in Kankoon from now on, so show him around some time ok," Snow said, in his usual manner. Sil nodded before collecting his payment from Serah and heading out.

"See you around Hope," he said as he left.

"Making friends already." Sazh grinned.

 ** _[How are we going to pass the GC exam?]_** _Just use our fal'cie powers._ ** _[You mean magic? That's a one way trip to a lab somewhere. People would probably think you've turned l'cie again]._** _We'll figure it out somehow._

As Hope was conversing with his other self, he didn't notice a young child looking up at him.

"Morty!" Serah called scooping the child up in her arms. Hope looked at the child in surprise, wondering why he wasn't asleep. There was nothing special about it, though at under two years, he looked like any other infant. Interestingly he had strawberry blonde hair. A mix between Serah and Lightning's and Snow's. He had aqua blue eyes like his Aunt, but coloured eyes were so common that it wasn't even noteworthy.

"Morty, this is Hope. Say hello." Morty just looked at Hope before looking away.

"Haha give him some time Hope. He'll warm up to you!" Snow laughed. Hope however, was already paying attention to something else. The house was beautifully decorated. It had a warm friendly atmosphere that his back on New Cocoon had definitely lacked. The entrance hall was furnished with a lush fluffy blue carpet that tickled his toes. The walls and ceiling were painted cream and pictures hung on the wall. He continued to walk forwards and found himself opening a door to a large living were two giant sofas forming an 'L' shape in front of a giant holographic TV. The carpet here was bright red.

"This is the living room," Serah extended her arms and explained unnecessarily. There were two more doors, one directly in front and one on the left, behind the sofas.

"That one leads to the kitchen and the other leads to the rest of the house."

Hope opened the door to the kitchen, marvelling at the large size. The floor here was black stone that reflected the lights above. It was inlaid with fine bronze patterns. The kitchen was spacious and in the centre was a large wooden breakfast table. He followed Serah, as she showed him the rest, patting a cooing Morty. The rest of the House was just as gorgeous, and Hope found himself starting to get jealous. After the tour was complete, Sazh said goodbye, pulling Dajh away from Morty who was now in the living room assembling plastic lego blocks. He started to cry as Dajh left, but Serah took him in her arms again. She had taken her coat off and Hope tried not to stare at her bare arms and revealed navel. Not long after Sazh left, Lightning dragged Hope to the entrance hallway and said goodbye as well. Hope followed her nervously.

Lightning's house was to the left of Snow and Serah's. It was the same blue colour, but Hope noted once he was inside that despite being the same house it was nowhere near as well furnished. It looked empty and cold. In fact Lightning didn't seem to have bothered furnishing it at all, except for the bare essentials.

"Welcome home." Lightning said, raising both her arms around her.

"Uh…yeah," he replied, as he followed her into the kitchen. He noted that her living room had a plasma tv and one small sofa.

"What do you want for dinner?"

"You can cook?" he asked suspiciously. Lightning nodded. It was a curt nod, more of an affirmation.

"I guess pasta will do," as he eyed her empty cabinets. She nodded and turned around.

"Make yourself comfortable," she said as she reached into the cabinet. Hope sat in the centre of the kitchen on a wooden breakfast table similar to the one in her sisters house. He rested his head on the table and watched her cook. She seemed to know what she was doing at least, he thought as he drifted off to sleep.

Lightning turned around to see Hope sprawled out on the circular wooden table sleeping. She looked on, in annoyance as she noted his drool congregating on the table. Taking a closer look at him, there was no way he looked 16. He looked in his early 20's. His silver hair seemed to shone with inherent energy and he looked radiant. She narrowed her eyes. She didn't remember him being so beautiful, but she shrugged it off, and focused back on her cooking. She grabbed some tomatoes from the fridge and cut them up efficiently on the chopping board. She turned the radio on low as she did so. It was a talk show she liked. They didn't usually talk about anything important, and it was mainly background noise. She dumped the cut tomatoes into the blender and started work on the onions. She had been planning on taking the officer exam for the Corps next week, but now that had been put on the back burner. If she passed, it would mean she would have to leave, to go the Officer Academy, and Hope would be alone.

 _I suppose I could defer entry._ She thought. She had studied every day for the last 3 months in preparation. It seemed such a waste to not take the exam. She snorted as she thought of Hope's words in the taxi. She found it amusing and slightly insulting that he thought he could pass the exam with almost no work. The fact that there was no age limit was irrelevant, the exam was far too tough for anyone who hadn't had any experience as a soldier. In addition to basic numeracy and literacy tests, the officer exam also tested candidates abilities in tactics and physical ability. She was tempted to allow him to take the test. He had obviously grown cocky in New Cocoon and needed to be brought down a few rungs. He _would_ go to school and graduate. She poured some oil into a frying pan and poured the cut onions in, along with some cut garlic. She turned around to glance at Hope as she fingered the button on the blender. She added a few spices and cut chillies before screwing the lid on and turning it on full blast. With a deafening screech it ripped apart the tomatoes, but Hope didn't even stir.

Lightning felt a pang of sadness. With his attitude, she had forgotten the whole reason that he was here. This was a heavy day for him, and she was slightly ashamed of her prior thoughts. She turned off the blender and stirred the onions, opening a packet of pasta and dumping it in a pot of boiling water that she had left simmering. It didn't take long for the pasta to be ready, and she went over to shake Hope awake. She glared at the drool that had dripped from his mouth onto her table, but said nothing as he stirred awake.

"Dinners served," she told him, as she dumped a fat plate of pasta on the table. He eyed it with suspicion, but eventually took a bite. His face brightened and he continued to eat it. She grabbed her own plate and set it on the opposite side of the table. They ate in silence for a few minutes before he broke the silence.

"Thanks Light." he said wearily. And for a few moments he sounded like the old Hope.


	7. Revelations

/A small but important chapter today. I just want to clarify a few things mentioned in the reviews. First, no one captured Hope in the prologue. He was taken to a hospital after being caught in the terrorist attack. This may not be clear, but that terrorist attack was orchestrated by the rogue faction headed by Raines. The purple headed nurse who injected Hope with the serum is Irl. I didn't want to spoonfeed you guys, but I would rather do that then have you misled. A problem seems to be that section breakers present in the original manuscript aren't showing when I upload them. Hope that clears everything up. In regards to the commenter who expressed dissatisfaction with Hope's OOC behaviour (if you are still reading) I understand completely. I will make Hope cool, but he is certainly not there now. Getting busted ordering alcohol and trying to (unsuccessfully) flirt is not what I would call cool behaviour. It is in fact rather alarming, as becoming half fal'cie, combined with his fathers death, is clearly having negative effects on his mind. You note that the other former l'cie (especially Lightning) express extreme concern, rather than awe. Also Hope's personality needs to change somewhat, as he is getting older, and maintaining his 14 year old personality would not make much sense. The personality changes are not quite as big as it may first appear however, and I hope you continue reading. Thanks for your input. /

()-(-_()-

Rick and Rishi waited nervously in the small room that they had been directed to. They were in the centre of the New Sanctum, the same building that had been hit in the recent bombing. The room was fairly brightly lit, but it was completely bare. Outside were two armed security guards from the Guardian Corps. Rishi was pacing in the room, but he didn't say anything. The room was likely bugged.

They had notified High Command that they had found something that was Code:5 in importance. Such a designation was restricted to only those things that could have an effect on the whole of Pulse (even though only a small part of the land had actually been as of yet colonised). The doctors had been told to come immediately, and had been let through with no delays. They had been waiting for perhaps 5 minutes when a young man in a suit beckoned them in to a large conference room. Inside was a giant wooden, rectangular table with curved edges. Over 10 people were sitting at it, including the High Council, the leaders of the Guardian Corps and Psicom and various senior members of government. Rick gulped and exchanged glances with Rishi. None of the seated people looked pleased to be there, but a Code:5 demanded their presence. No one had ever expected anyone to actually use one, and they sat watching the two nervous doctors who had dared to.

"This had better be worth out time." General Amatsu Mado, head of Psicom growled. He was an unreasonably large man, nearing seven feet. He had brown eyes, little hair and was wearing standard military attire. He was terrifying. Rishi walked forwards and tried to sound confident.

"We believe that it is sir."

Mado nodded slowly as if he didn't believe them.

"If this doesn't meet the qualification for a Code:5, you're going to be worked in the mines. I hope you know that." At the head of the table, a middle sized man was watching them bored. He was the head of the High Council, arbitrator of all affairs on Pulse- Jagu Kan. He gestured for them to make a report. In his hand Rick laid down his briefcase on the table and opened it. Rishi meanwhile fiddled with a giant holographic monitor on the wall.

"I'll get straight to the point." Rick said. "We've found evidence that one of the l'cie has become a fal'cie. Or to be more accurate, half fal'cie."

There was silence. Whatever they had been expected it wasn't this. Before any objections could be made, the holographic display whizzed into life showing the footage taken in the lab. There was stunned gasping when the Antolum was blasted by lightning.

"This was taken from the l'cie Hope Estheim at approximately 11:00 on Saturday morning. We have a sample of the blood here." Rick pointed to his briefcase as he got the test tube out. "It's now Sunday, 12:23, so its been more than 24 hours. There is, however, no sign of congealing."

Silence again.

"What does this mean?" one of the members of the council asked. She looked to be in her 40's.

"Where is Hope now?"

"Is he a threat?"

"Should we take him in for testing?"

Rick was assaulted with a barrage of questions, and he took a step back, not knowing how to react. He was fortunately saved by Jagu Kan.

"SILENCE." He roared. He stood up and began pacing around the conference room.

"Do you not see?" Mado also stood up. "The frontiers are breaking! With the help of a half fal'cie we could secure our borders once more!"

"Or have it betray us! How can we trust a fal'cie?" General Riko Tuovar, the head of the Guardian Corps shouted. She also stood up.

"How did this happen?" Jagu asked.

"Uh..we're not sure. Mr. Estheim was brought in after being a victim to the terrorist bombings last week. He was hospitalised. We decided to take a blood sample after witnessing his outrageous healing. CCTV surveillance shows records of an unidentified purple haired nurse, something that is being investigated at this moment." Rishi said.

"Did you know that our frontiers are beginning to collapse?" Jagu said softly.

"President! We cannot divulge such information to civilians!" a councillor protested.

"Shut up. They deserve to know the truth." Jagu sighed and took a seat once more. "To be honest with you, this news could not have come at a better time. Pulse is far more… _hostile_ than we could ever have imagined. Were it not for the Manufacturing Units that we found we would have been all been killed long since."

"What are you talking about sir?" Rick asked confused. There is peace. There is prosperity. I've heard nothing about collapsing borders on the news."

"That's because we can't let the media broadcast the truth. There would be panic. Truthfully we don't know how much longer we can hold these blighted monsters back. We're on their territory son." Jagu continued.

"What we really need are Pulsian weapons, but all the Packages are MU's only. There hasn't been a single weapons cache excavated yet. And that means we're stuck with Cocoon weapons. And they're damn ineffective. When you consider all the rogue factions that are operating…" Mado sighed.

"That damn Raines! Where is he? Whats he doing? We have suspicions that that psycho is behind the bombings, we haven't got proof." Riko said.

Mado sighed again and motioned at the holographic display. He must have had an implant in his hand because immediately the contents of the holographic display changed.

"This is a recording from the Northern Border, near Soma, 60 miles North of New Cocoon. It came in yesterday." He waved his hand and it began to play.

 _"This is Sergeant Grieves; Psicom Division 6. We can't hold the line. Repeat. We can't hold the line. -STATIC- Extensive casualties, We're losing around twenty men a night. Those damn wyverns -STATIC- adamantoise breached the second fortification an hour ago. Hundreds dead. We managed to bring it down with Grid missiles but we're out. If another com-STATIC- dead. Request reinforcements. Repeat. Request reinforcements. If the third fortification falls, they'll be nothing stopping these bastards coming straight to New Cocoon. Sergeant Grieves out."_

Rishi stared at the screen wordlessly in horror. Grieves, a masked Psicom was standing in a scene of carnage. The wounded screamed all around him, in the distance the sounds of gunfire and the roar of beasts. He looked downwards shocked.

"This is happening to the all the Borders, except the South. Krantos is protected by that sea. We're running out of time." Mados said, his gruff exterior revealing a touch of despair.

"This fal'cie hybrid is now a matter of the highest concerns. When they were l'cie they could take on those beasts and win-but a half fal'cie? Who knows how useful it could be. Where is he right now?" Jagu asked.

"He went with the other l'cie- to Kankoon I believe," Rick nervously pushed his glasses back up.

"Riko, Amatsu. I want people watching him. See if he's a threat and what he's capable of. I don't want him turning against us so don't let your men do anything stupid. Doctors, you are hereby reassigned to Kankoon. I want you to be there in case anything happens to him. Gather a team and take them with you. You are now in charge of creating a specialist medical task force, with the express purpose of studying him. I want it done discretely. People, we've been handed a golden egg here. Let's see what this kid can do." Jagu stood up and slammed his hands on the table. "Dismissed."

()-(-_()-

"They know, Chairman." Irl said. She flicked her purple hair from her eyes. She was standing in his lush office, her hands behind her back. Her purple hair was tucked away in a pony tail and swayed slightly in response to the rooms vigorous air conditioning. Cid Raines, sat on his chair, his piercing eyes fixed on her.

"Yes. How goes young Estheim?"

"Remarkable. We'll need to get a closer look. An agent is already in Kankoon. From his erratic behaviour aboard the Kalhua, it seems that the introduction of the fal'cie is having a strong negative mental impact. I can report extensive modifications to his body, but without a closer look it is difficult to clarify. His face is at least becoming more…beautiful, and there is a definite increase in the intensity of colour in both eyes."

"Is he going insane?" Cid's voice was chilling.

"That cannot be determined yet. His personality is at the very least demonstrating degrees of fragmentation, though the extent to which this occurs is…random. From the hacked surveillance cameras aboard the Kalhua it seems he ordered…whisky from the bar."

"I fail to understand the significance."

"He was sitting next to his l'cie friends. At the very least this would demonstrate incongruent behaviour."

"We're running out of time Irl. How goes the development of the serum?"

Irl cringed. She had been dreading this bit. She swallowed hard.

"We're having problems. It would seem that the fragmented crystals that we injected into Hope was actually a de-constituted fal'cie."

"Which means?"

"We have several more of these fragmented crystals, but it is highly likely that even if we find how to safely inject them into non l'cie, the fal'cie personality would be retained. I fear that this is what is causing Hope's instability."

"Is it surmountable?" The room was starting to feel chilly. Depending on her next few words, she would never leave alive.

"An agent managed to steal a sample of Hope's blood. With it, I believe I can synthesise something that gives a fal'cie's power without the actual fal'cie. It's going to take time however."

"We don't have time. The seal. It is breaking. Sickness comes." Cid stood up. "We must hurry."

"Yes, of course Chairman."

"Then get back to work."


	8. Returning emotions

Hope sat on the sofa mindlessly watching TV. He had been here since 10:00 last night. It was now 10:00am on Sunday. He had tried to get sleep, but didn't need it. He still didn't feel particularly tired. In fact as the night had wore on, he had become more and more energetic. Lightning was still sleeping so he had the volume low, but he had long since lost interest in TV. Apparently something had happened in Soma-it had been overrun by wild beasts. He was sure that they would be cleared out soon. He stretched and flicked off the TV. It was an old plasma, but he suspected Lightning never watched enough of it to justify an upgrade. He tramped into the kitchen and looked for something to eat for breakfast. To his dismay, Lightnings fridge was nearly empty. He suspected that yesterday was the first time she had cooked in a while.

He grabbed a banana from the fruit stand and sat down at the table. He was surprised to find that he was not particularly hungry. _Why am I not hungry?_ ** _[You are now part fal'cie. Fal'cie do not need to eat so much]._** _So I can't eat?_ ** _[I said you don't need to, not that you can't]._**

Hope bit into his peeled banana and stared thoughtfully through the window into the back of the house, which led into the town of Kankoon. The sandy road outside had a few people wandering around, but it was largely empty. The sky was a cloudy grey, and from the swaying of the palm trees outside and the flicks of water on the windows, it seemed a heavy wind was sneezing.

The few people that he could see were wearing colourful clothing- light clothing. T-shirts and shorts were very common, despite the rain. _It must be hot already._ The road outside was a small one, not even paved, the sand stirred up by the capriciousness of the wind. Beyond the road, in the distance, was a line of small market stalls already open for business. The one directly opposite Lightnings house was selling coconuts. Making a quick decision, Hope opened the door, grabbed his shoes and stepped out. Fondling his rapidly dwindling pocket change he approached the stall.

He had been right-it _was_ hot. The wind was warm and he barely noticed the drizzle. A thick humidity was in the air, permeating his clothes.

"Uh, hi there," he called out. The seller was a light skinned man, with a scraggly beard. He had dark black hair and brown eyes. He must have been in his forties. He put down the magazine he was reading and eyed the approaching boy.

"A newcomer I see!" he stood up. "Not many of them around here."

"I'm Hope. Due to…family problems, I've moved in with my aunt." Hope pointed to the house behind him. Apparently the man knew her as his head lifted in understanding.

"Ah, the soldier? She's a cold one, your aunt is." he laughed. "Not unlike my wife, ha! I go by John. Any of my coconuts taken your fancy?"

Hope pointed to the largest of the coconuts. It was still green, indicating that there was water inside. He hadn't had coconut water since before the l'cie days. It had been rare on Cocoon.

"That one eh? Well, I was planning on having that meself, but for 10 gil its yours."

Hope was taken aback by the low price, and looked at the coconuts suspiciously. John picked up on it and laughed.

"They grow everywhere here lad. I don't even know why people buy them. You could just pick one up from the beach. That's what I do."

Hope handed him the money and said goodbye. Holding the coconut carefully for the 20 metres or so metres back to the house, he gingerly put it on the table and examined it. He had only had coconut water once. The idea that they could be so common as to be able to pick them up from the ground was startling. He stabbed the coconut with his finger, puncturing it, before tilting it and gulping down the contents. Unfortunately it was warm, but still tasty.

He was so focused on the coconut that he didn't hear the footsteps coming down the stairs. It was only when he put the coconut down that he saw Lightning standing in the kitchen, her arms crossed.

"Morning Light!" he said cheerfully. She looked at him as if she didn't know how to treat him. She had obviously had a shower and was wearing a plain green t-shirt and jeans. She crossed her arms and looked directly at him.

"Yesterday was…" she looked at him, as if expecting input. Hope started to nibble on his banana. He noticed that she wasn't putting pressure on the leg that he had kicked yesterday.

"Are you ok?" she asked.

"Yep."

She seemed taken aback by his quick answer and her eyes narrowed as he kept nibbling on the banana. His body had fully recovered, but he was certain that hers had not. The fact that he had been able to summon a small fireball back on the Kalhua meant that he had some degree of magic. That meant that more than likely his healing abilities had returned. He decided to help her. **_[A very bad idea. Nothing good will come of showing her you can use magic]._**

"I want you to tell me where you leant to fight like that." she asked, deadly serious. Hope put down the banana, got up and walked towards her.

"I was a member of the martial arts club." Hope lied. Lightning looked at him doubtfully as he approached her. **_[She's not going to let you get near enough to heal her]._** _I know._ He didn't slow down as he reached her, instead scooping her up into his arms, ignoring her startled protests and carried her to the sofa, where he promptly dropped her. He thought he could hear Razniel sigh.

"What are you doing Hope?" she said angrily, trying to get up. Hope quickly crouched down and grabbed her leg, inspecting it. He couldn't see her wound because of the jeans, but he didn't need to. Placing his hands on her left thigh, and ignoring her furious shouts, and restraining her kicks he cast the same healing magic he had once used as a l'cie on her. From the time he picked her up to the time he healed her was all done in the span of a few seconds. Longer than that and she would have recovered from her surprise and another fight would have likely been started. He didn't want that. Lightning didn't like being touched, never mind _picked up and dropped on the sofa_. Hope quickly left the living room.

"Sorry for last night," he said, as he fled into the kitchen, back to his banana and coconut. A few seconds later Lightning entered. The fury on her face was tempered by shock, as she felt her thigh where the bruise had been.

"What did you do?" she demanded.

"Healed you." Hope replied nervously.

" _Healed_ me? That's impossible." She re-crossed her arms, scowling at him. She _really_ didn't like to be picked up.

"I can still do tiny bits of healing magic."

"You still have your l'cie powers?" shock now completely replacing fury.

"No. Only healing. It's more like a residue. It doesn't work with serious injuries, but for bruises and stuff it's fine. It's kinda tiring, so I don't like to use it too often, but the sight of you limping like that was too pitiful."

She stared at him for a few moments, and he didn't know if he believed her. Eventually she sighed.

"Why are _you_ not hurt?" It almost felt like an accusation.

"From a little kick like that? You're kidding right?"

"Hope…yesterday was crazy. I don't know what got over me. I'm sorry."

"Yeah. I just wanted to see what music you were listening to and you tried to kill me!" Hope teased. Unfortunately Lightning completely missed the playfulness in his tone, and responded with a burst of anger.

"I did not! You were completely out of order, coming into my room like that! You-" She took a deep breath and calmed down.

"It doesn't matter. Let's not do that again."

"Absolutely," Hope immediately agreed. He took another bite of his banana, looking up when he noticed her looking at him. "What?" he asked. She looked away distractedly and shook her head.

"Nothing." She got up. "Hurry up and finish."

"Why?"

"We've got shopping to do."

Hope followed Lightning to her car, shielding his eyes from the heavy blasts of wind and the upsurges of sand that danced to its tune. He waved hello to John the coconut seller, before getting into the car. As with all flying cars, it was completely autonomous. She punched in the area code of the nearest mall and the car rose and shot off into the sky. Hope was surprised to see that the sky was virtually empty. He counted only two other vehicles, both far off, and both over the sea.

Kankoon was obviously a small town, and it took only a few minutes to reach the mall. Nearer the centre, everything looked much more modern. The timber beach houses had been replaced with the typical Krantos-style glass buildings. In fact he thought that Krantos looked very much like Eden once had. Here, the town was much busier. Hundreds of Sunday morning shoppers crowded the streets of the busy district below. The car landed in one of the nearby parking areas, and the two got out.

"What are we going to buy?" he asked as he closed the door behind him.

"Clothes." her tone was ice cold. She hadn't talked to him once in the car, still smarting over the incident back at the house. Ever since he had arrived at her house, he had inadvertently caused problem after problem. He wondered if she was starting to regret allowing him to stay.

"Ok robot." he muttered.

"What was that?" she snapped.

"Nothing." he quickly replied, slightly intimidated by her demeanour. They left the parking lot and entered the main street. Without stopping she headed straight into one of the stores.

 _'Gilfords Sleeves'_

Hope followed her. This was one of the few shops that was relatively empty, though with a name like that he didn't doubt why. The shop had an old-people smell that instantly set off his alarms. Back in New Cocoon, he had never been overly concise of fashion, but he wasn't a total idiot. This wasn't the kind of store that young people came to. Even knowing Lightning, he found it difficult to believe she came here. She didn't seem to be too fashion conscious, but judging by the clothes she had been wearing for the last few days, she had a natural good sense of what to wear.

His suspicions were confirmed when he saw her with a small smirk, which she didn't even bother to hide. Hope put a hand on his hips and just stared wearily at her. He sighed after a few seconds and tried to salvage the situation. The clothes were unbelievably awful, but he picked out several white t-shirts, plain jeans, underwear and sandals (so he didn't need to buy socks) and dumped them on the counter. The cashier, an old dark skinned woman with glasses rushed to serve him. "What a strapping young lad!" she giggled at Lightning, raising her eyebrows. Lightning just rolled her eyes. After the woman had finished scanning everything, she looked up. "120 gil." Hope wondered at the low price. He was starting to suspect that this was a charity store.

"Is this a charity store?" he asked.

"Why yes dear!"

They left the store, and Hope was almost certain that Lightning expected him to make a comment. He didn't though. He was just grateful that she was getting him anything. He was certain she was getting revenge for his behaviour earlier. It was childish, and not something that he ever thought she would do.

 _She's different isn't she?_ ** _[What do you mean?]_** _I mean back during the l'cie days, she was…like a robot._ ** _[That's why you were surprised she was listening to music?]_** _I mean it's obviously something normal people do, but I would never have imagined her doing it!_ ** _[She may seem like a robot, but she isn't. You want to see robots, look at fal'cie. She's acting like this because of your behaviour. Its been so comically absurd that her barriers are starting to get torn down]._** _Since when did you become an expert on humans?_ ** _[Humans are so simple, even Atomus could grasp them]._** _Who's that?_ ** _[A fal'cie who digs tunnels. Unbelievably stupid. You've met him]._** _Oh. The guy who looks like a ball?_ ** _[Yes]._**

 _Digging tunnels is better than cleaning garbage._ ** _[I was wasted in that profession]._** _What should I do?_ ** _[Stop doing stupid things]._**

Hope ignored Razniel and continued to follow Lightning. _How would the original Hope have acted?_ ** _[Like a puppy?]_** _Ugh…I really did didn't I?_

"So where we going now Light?" he tried to make his voice sound friendly.

"Back."

"Wh..What? Already? We only just got here!" he said surprised. She turned around.

"What else do you need?"

"A phone!"

"No way."

"Light, my phone was broken in the explosion."

"Not my problem."

"What happens if I'm lost and need to ring you? Or there is an emergency, but you're at work and I'm not at home?"

Her expression changed a fraction.

"Ugh," she breathed out in displeasure, but she turned towards the mobile carrier store and started walking. It was a quick walk and soon they were below the neon blue sign. They entered and were quickly accosted by a salesman.

"Hi there how can I help you?" he said in that overly interested way common to all salespeople.

Hope walked over to the selection of phones. They were spread from the most to least expensive in a horizontal stratification, going right to left. Hope walked over to the left-most side and pointed to an extremely cheap looking flip up phone. It pained him to do so-his last phone had been a top of the line smartphone, but here he wasn't the one paying. Once he got a job-whether that was in the Guardian Corps or somewhere else, he could upgrade. The salesman's expression fell slightly when he saw the phone Hope was referring to. It was half as cheap as the next cheapest phone: only 220 gil. He nodded slowly and shuffled, with an almost dejected gait to the store room at the back. The other two staff in the store looked on uninterested. He was surprised to see Lightning checking out the other phones while they waited.

The sales man returned.

"I'm sorry sir, we only have that model in pink."

Hope looked at him and blinked slowly. "So?"

"Uh?" the salesman replied in confusion.

"The phone already looks like shit. Pink shit, green shit, blue shit who cares? A turd is a turd." The words came out of his mouth unbidden. They were Razniel's thoughts, and he had unthinkingly verbalised them. Lightning scowled at him and crossed her arms. He didn't know why she liked doing that so much. He refused to apologise for Razniels words and just stared at the Salesman, who had turned red. He nodded and quickly raced back to the storeroom. Lightning grabbed his arm painfully.

"You better keep your words under check Hope." she warned. He just nodded. **_[Hahahaha! Now that was great Hope! I didn't expect you to say my thoughts aloud! You have to admit saying that felt pretty good!]_** _It…It…did. Why?_ ** _[I guess I'm starting to rub off on you!]_**

The salesman returned carrying a small cardboard box. As he had promised it was pink. Lightning paid for it, somewhat reluctantly and they left the shop. There was an awkward silence as he trailed behind her, not knowing what to say. She suddenly stopped and turned around.

"Lets get something to eat," she said. Lighting mentally kicked herself as she remembered that he was a boy who had just been orphaned. He had been acting so strange, that the fact that he had just lost his father had completely slipped her mind. _How did you act when your parents died, Farron? A damn site worse._ Last night was still grating heavily on her, but she didn't know how to react. _How can someone change so much in just 2 years?_ He had seemed like the Hope she had known back in the Hospital, but she couldn't be sure-he was delirious for most of that time. She resolved to be softer on him.

Hope looked at her suspiciously. Hadn't she just been scolding him? He nodded slowly and followed her to a nearby restaurant. The shop sign had a picture of a steak. _A steak house then._ He felt his stomach rumble. _I thought I didn't need to eat!_ ** _[I must have been wrong]._** _You're meant to be a fal'cie!_ ** _[Not anymore. Technically I'm half human. Plus, this isn't exactly something that I have experience with]._**

Hope sighed and entered the restaurant. It was dimly lit, and was fairly empty. That wasn't too surprising-it was only 11:42. One of the waiters rushed over to them.

"Lightning! Great to see you again!" he said in a friendly tone.

"Table for 2." she replied curtly. He nodded and led them to a seating area near the side of the restaurant, overlooking one of the side streets that branched off from the main shopping road. Instead of seats, there were the cushioned benches that Hope liked, and he slid into the one opposite Lightning. He put his shopping bags on the side and grabbed the menu. He eyed the largest steak-he had been right after all- a _32 ounce_ behemoth steak. He eyed the menu for a few seconds, wondering if the steak was _from_ a behemoth, or simply an adjective. Whatever it was, he wanted it.

It was also 180 gil.

"I want the 32 ounce behemoth steak," he said, almost certain she would refuse. She looked at him, with raised eyebrows, and for a split second he thought she was going to say no.

"Are you sure you can eat that? What about a smaller one?" she said in an uncharacteristically kind voice. Hope looked at her confused. She looked like she was going out of her way to be nice. _I can take advantage of that!_

"I'm really hungry Light!"

Different emotions raged across her face, before she nodded lightly. She called the waiter and ordered their meals.

"A 12 ounce steak rare. And a 32 ounce…behemoth steak."

"Ooh, your boyfriends got an appetite has he? No one's ordered that in a while! Chef will be pleased! It has to be well done though. Behemoth needs to be thoroughly cooked. Is that ok?" The waiter asked, ignoring Lightnings scowl.

Hope nodded and the waiter collected the menu's and left.

"Hope, we need to talk." she said seriously.

"About what?" he said absentmindedly. He had grabbed his phone box and opened it, inspecting his new mobile.

"Hope, your father just died. I know how you're feeling. I went through the same thing myself and I can help you."

"Ah." Hope said. He had completely forgotten about his father. He looked upon the memories of his dad with nostalgia and fondness, but there was not even a trace of sadness. It was actually quite shocking. _Razniel. Stop suppressing the emotions. They're still there aren't they? I can feel them pressing on the back of my head._ ** _[Yes I cannot remove them, just hold them back. You want me to stop? Are you sure?]_** _Yes._ ** _[It will be overwhelming]._** _I can't live like this. If you get rid of all the sad emotions, then the happy ones lose their meaning too. Fal'cie don't have emotions so just trust me with this. I got over my mum. I'll get over my dad._ ** _[If you say so]._**

He felt the emotions beginning to return. It came back slowly, and at first Hope wondered what he had made such a big of. He felt sad, but not overly grieved. It started with a lump in his throat and then with a startling pain and a shocking jolt, overwhelming agony. He felt alive again, but in the worst way possible. He choked for breath, fighting to hold back tears.

"How?" he gasped. "How can anyone help me?"

"By telling you that you are not alone." Lightning grabbed his hand and squeezed it. _Razniel! Stop it! Get rid of it! It's…It's too much! I wasn't serious about it!_ ** _[I cannot. I could only hold it back. Now it has been released, I can do nothing]._**

Hope grabbed his head and pulled on his hair tightly. He hoped the pain would distract him, but it did nothing. He sat back heavily and stared out the window morosely. He leaned against the window sill with his left elbow and started crying. He didn't even care that Lightning was there. _Oh god, Dad! Not you too!_ He rested his head in his left hand, feeling the hot tears trickle down.

"Why me?" he asked to no one. No one replied. "Why couldn't he have lived, and I died?"

Lightning said nothing. Nothing she could say would ease his pain. Only her presence. The sudden change in his attitude was alarming. One minute he had been fiddling with the box of his new phone, the next he was acting like how she would have expected Hope to act. She didn't know what to think.

"I thought that that was it! After being l'cie, I thought that that was it!" he cried, tears trickling down his face. A few of the others in the restaurant were turning to look at him, but he didn't even notice. "We were supposed to have a happy ending. This wasn't supposed to happen."

"I know Hope."

"What do you Kn-" he lashed out before stopping. _Of course she knew._ He wiped away the tears and slowly looked up at her.

"Does it go away?" he asked.

"Never." she replied. "But you get numb to it."

-()—))(—

The next twenty minutes were spent in silence. Hope stared out of the window, fighting to keep hold of his emotions, but it proved to be too difficult, and he spent the time intermittently crying.

In the recesses of his mind, he felt Razniel also struggling with the emotions. Lightning sat there with a sympathetic face, that only made him feel worse. It was in such an atmosphere, that the food was delivered. Hope barely registered his arrival, and only when the smell of roasted meat wafted up into his nostrils did he finally turn around. The steak was truly gigantic, and from the blue hue of the meat, he surmised that it was in fact from a behemoth. Lightning's steak was darker brown and _much_ smaller. The meat was delicious, but he barely noticed. _Is this a dream?_ Nothing felt real.

To Lightnings great surprise, he wolfed down the steak, finishing it before she had eaten her own food. She watched him carefully. He looked a mess. Not for the first time, she wondered about him. She had been startled when he had suddenly cried-he had looked so composed before-but she admitted he _was_ still a child. It had been easy to forget that with the events of the last few days. Yesterdays fight still raged in her mind. She was one of the best close combat fighters in the entire corps; she had _never_ had a fight like that before. Had Hope always been like that? It was difficult to reconcile the boy that sat in front of her now and the child she had taken under her wing, 2 years ago. He was still wiping his eyes, but they held a strength in them that almost startled her. She focused on finishing her steak. It was best not to press the kid too much at the moment. She would speak with Serah first.

They left the restaurant. The sun had come out, the sky a glorious blue. Hope looked around in dull surprise. The city which had seemed to vibrant and beautiful an hour ago, seemed to him to have become greyer and more melancholic, despite the arrival of the sunlight. The heat hit him as he left but he shrugged it off. He just wanted to be alone. They returned back to the house. He did not greet John. He sat on the kitchen table and stared at the wood. He noticed Lightning leaving, and he briefly wondered where she had gone.

His curiosity was answered after a few minutes when he heard a racket outside. He smiled slightly despite himself as he caught sight of Snow and Sazh walking down the road. The windows in the house were all one way. You could look out perfectly fine, but people trying to look in would see only heavy tint. He watched them approach and felt his heart lift slightly. _This is what I need._ As much as he liked Lightning, he couldn't really talk to her. She was just too aloof. He waited for Razniel to say something, but there was only silence. As a fal'cie, he had no experience in dealing with such painful emotions and was suffering even worse than Hope.

"Hope!" Snow called out.

"The kid home?" Sazh muttered. "Or did soldier girl just want to get us out of the house?"

Hope got up and walked to the door, opening it.

"Hope!" Snow said cheerfully. "I've got a movie!"

Hope let out a small smile and stepped backwards to let them in. Snow's cheerful temperament was highly infectious.

"And _I've_ got snacks," Sazh said holding up two rather large bags of food.

—()-)-()—-

Lightning sat alone with Serah in the living room. Morty and Dajh were playing with building bricks in the centre, but aside from their nonsense ramblings, the house was quiet. She had never liked the name 'Morty' but she had to admit it wasn't as silly as 'Lightning' or 'Snow.'

"Claire?" Serah asked uncertainly. Her sister didn't usually ask to speak privately with her.

"It's about Hope." she said.

"How is he doing?"

"I…don't know." she sighed. "One minute he's acting like nothing has happened, and the next he's…"

"He'll get better with time." Serah replied confidently.

"There's something else. Yesterday, we had a fight." she said.

Serah froze.

"What?" disbelief etched in her voice. "Claire what the hell-?"

"He started it-"

"That is _not_ the point. Did you hurt him?"

"Serah. It was even."

"What was even? Answer my question Claire! Maybe he _should_ come stay with us. I knew it was a bad idea to-"

"The fight was even," she cut her sister off sharply. Serah looked confused for a second before her eyes widened. Lightning continued. "It was something stupid, and one thing led to another. It was my fault, I forgot for a moment that I was dealing with Hope. He was just…so different."

"So you _attacked_ him?"

"I don't know what happened, but we got into a fight. I couldn't beat him." She looked down, the events still a source of confusion.

"What do you mean you couldn't _beat_ him? You tried to _beat him up?_ " There was disbelief in her sisters voice. _Great! This is all I need-for her to misunderstand._

"The reason for the fight is not important. He matched me move for move. In the end we both collapsed on the floor."

"You expect me to believe that? You couldn't take out a 16 year old? And what were you doing _fighting_ in the first place? You're meant to be looking after him!"

"Serah something is up with Hope. Did you forget how quickly he healed in the hospital? And this morning…he picked me up, dropped me on the sofa and _healed_ me."

Serah just laughed. The idea of that timid boy picking her sister up was too absurd. She hadn't spent much time with him recently, but in the immediate aftermath of Cocoons fall, they had all spent a few weeks together and she knew he would never do something like that.

"Picked you up?" she scoffed.

"Yes. And used magic to heal me."

Serah now just looked bewildered. She knew Claire wouldn't lie about this, but it was so hard to believe. "Healed?"

"He used l'cie magic."

Serah said nothing, and just leaned back in the chair.

"What does it mean? Maker Claire-you don't think he's been…"

"There's only one way to find out. I'll have to check if he's got a tattoo." She stood up abruptly. "I'll get to the bottom of this. If he's a l'cie, I'll make him pay for not telling us."

"And if he is?"

Lightning looked away. "I don't know."

-)(()—-()-

"Cheese is important kid! You can't have nachos without any cheese!" Sazh laughed as he slapped Hope on the back. They were in the kitchen preparing the snacks. Hope was starting to get in the spirit of things.

"How much?"

"All of it of course! Hero's need to eat!" Snow laughed as he mangled yet another tomato. Hope poured all of the grated cheese on the tray of nachos, smacking the back of the plate to make sure that it all got out. He then put it in the preheated oven. Snow added the tomato to the huge salsa bowl he had been working on. A few minutes later the cheese was melted and they filed into the living room to put the movie on. There was only one sofa- and a small one at that. With three of them, it was cramped, but Hope found himself enjoying it. With his old friends around them, he felt like he had a family again.


	9. A stripped Hope

Snow and Sazh left in the evening. They had watched two movies, and gone through the entire tray of nachos, two large bags of popcorn, several meat skewers and ice cream. Hope pulled his t shirt up, wondering at his stomach. It didn't look even remotely stretched, despite those snacks being on top of almost 1kg of Behemoth meat. He watched the two leave the house and got to work cleaning the kitchen. He was feeling far better than he had that afternoon. He kept his mind off his father, as he washed the dishes. He didn't want Lightning to get angry over the mess that they had made.

He wondered where she had gone, but he didn't have long to wait. She entered from the beach entrance, the opposite side that Snow and Sazh had just used. He had just finished cleaning when she came into the kitchen. Her brows were furrowed, and he immediately knew something was wrong.

"Uh, Light?" he called out. She walked into the centre of the kitchen and crossed her arms, fixing him with a cold stare.

"Are you a l'cie Hope?" her voice was cold. A stab of fear shot through him and he instinctively reached for Razniel. _What do we do?_ **_[Lets be honest]_** **.** Hope felt relief as he heard a reply. He had been worried that he wouldn't return, as irrational as that fear was. After all, Razniel had _nowhere_ to go. With Razniel back, he felt less alone.

"What? No! What are you saying?" he replied nervously.

"I don't believe you. You used l'cie magic this morning. Hope, I need you to trust me. I can't help you if you don't let me."

"I told you that that was a residue of-"

"I don't buy it Hope. Take off your clothes."

Hope gaped at her. There was not a trace of embarrassment on her face. She looked like a stern older sister.

"Wh..what?" he must have heard wrong. **_[You didn't hear wrong. She wants us naked]._**

"I said take off your clothes. I want to see if you have a l'cie mark."

"No way!"

"Hope, if you don't take off your clothes, things will get less than pleasant."

Hope gaped at her for a second. _I should never have healed her this morning! How could I have thought that using healing magic would be no big deal?_ Not knowing what else to do, he made a dash for the stairs. Lightning, caught by surprise, was a second late in chasing him.

"Hope!" she called out from behind. He rushed into his room and slammed the door, turning the lock. He pinched his nose and tried to breathe, but the reality check passed. _This isn't a dream._ He sat down, his back to the door, as he tried to take in what was going on. He didn't have a l'cie mark, but there was no way he was taking his clothes off in front of her. _Where's that euphoric feeling when you need it?_ ** _[You need to sleep first]._** _No time for that now._

His heart was pounding, and he pressed his ear to the door, listening for sign of where Lightning may be.

"Hope, this is important. If we don't know what's wrong with you, we can't help you."

Hope jerked back, as the connective door between the two rooms opened and Lightning casually walked in. He turned backwards, but there was no way of escaping her now. She was only a few metres away, and he didn't have time to unlock the door and escape. His heart beating furiously he decided to resist her.

"I'm not taking my clothes off!"

For a second, she had the grace to look mildly embarrassed, and a faint blush painted her cheeks. But she started to walk forwards slowly.

"Why wont you trust us?"

"I told you I'm not a l'cie!" he said desperately.

"I'm not buying that. It's impossible for you to have magic residue"

Hope took off his shoe and threw it desperately at her. With a deft movement of her head she dodged it, and it hit the back wall.

"Hope." she warned.

Hope closed his eyes for a second. This could not be happening. **_[You can resist her Hope]._** _You mean fight? No way!_ ** _[You did well yesterday]._** _I don't know how I did that!_ ** _[Thats right]._**

He reopened his eyes and sighed. He didn't look like he was going to have much of a choice. At the moment, the only illumination in the room was coming from Lightnings room, through the half open door. He had night vision. If he could just…

"Hope…" he felt a hand on his shoulder. He realised with a shock that she was right in front of him.

"Why don't you take off your clothes as well?"

"What?"

"Then it won't be so embarrassing for me."

"Not going to happen. I'm not the l'cie."

Hope raised his arms in frustration. He had no way out now. He wasn't sure he could do what he had done yesterday again, but he had to try. He wasn't going to be bullied by her like this.

"I'll…I'll fight." he said with determination. He noticed that her eyes narrowed, and she took her hand of his shoulder.

"Yesterday I wasn't prepared. Today it'll be different." It almost sounded as if she was anticipating a fight. Something in her tone made him have the distinct impression she was _hoping_ he would try and fight her, but that was clearly ridiculous.

"I won't go down easy," he said, as he felt adrenaline flood through him. He yelled a roar, grabbed her in a bear hug, and they both tumbled to the ground as she cursed. He tried to climb over her to get to the door, but she grabbed his left foot, dragging him backwards. Before she could do anything, he flipped onto his back and jumped to his feet. He was surprised by his own athleticism. _I can do this_.

He grabbed a dusty pillow from his bed and whacked it at her head. Even in the poor light however, Lightnings reflexes were superb. She effortlessly dodged it and aimed a backhand on his face.

"Hope! Stop this! What is wrong with you?"

"Me? What's wrong with you? I'll let Snow and Sazh check me for l'cie marks." he replied, as he ducked, narrowly missing the attack and grabbing her legs, he uprooted her.

With a thud she fell on her back. Grabbing the pillow again, he smashed it into her face. Dust exploded everywhere.

"Hope!" she said furiously, as she coughed up the dust. Hope tried to hit her again with the pillow, but this time she rolled out of the way, grabbed his wrists with her feet, reeling him in, before delivering a gut punch. He staggered back giving her enough time to lithely get to her feet. In the dim light it was difficult for her to see, and he took advantage of this.

He grabbed her left hand, swung her and threw her. She weighed nothing in his arms. Unfortunately instead of hitting the wall, which would have likely put an end to the fight and allowed him to run, she crashed through the connective door into her brightly lit room. The hinges on the door bent, and the door was torn from its sockets, crashing onto the carpeted floor. Lightning lay still for a few seconds before getting to her feet. Hope eyed her wearily. Her physical resilience was astonishing. There was a cut above her eyebrow, but apart from that, she looked fine. And angry. And slightly impressed. Her face was a maelstrom of emotions. None of them bode well for him. She was silent as she watched him, like a predator.

Instead of waiting for her to fully recover he leapt forwards. He couldn't even remember why they were fighting, he was consumed with the act. He aimed a sweeping kick at Lightning but she sidestepped it bringing down on him several rapid attacks. He couldn't dodge them all in time and he felt searing pain erupt all over his body.

However he was able to grab her leg as her final kick painfully made contact with his side and he swung her away again. This time she smashed into the wall and fell downwards onto her bed. She rolled off the bed, falling to the floor painfully. Now there was no doubt she was injured. Hope tried to run towards the door, but he doubled over in pain. Lightning was a _vicious_ fighter. What had started as a small fight, had very quickly escalated into all out anarchy. _Just like yesterday._

Lightning slowly got to her feet again. This time she charged at him and feigned a left punch on his likely cracked ribs. Hope, with no experience fighting fell for it, and gasped in pain as her fist rammed into his broken bones. White light filled his vision, and he collapsed to his knees. _No! Not yet!_ With a surge of willpower that he didn't know he had he sprang up and tackled Lightning back onto the floor. The speed of his pounce was such that she had no chance of defending herself. He landed heavily on top of her and she let out a pained yell as she sprained her ankle. She reached for a heavy vase from her bedside table and smashed it on his head. With a dull crack it shattered and Hope slumped on top of her.

She pushed him off her, her body wracked in pain. She noted with shock that he wasn't knocked out. He was dazed, but starting to stir ever so slightly. The fact that he had resisted her so heavily further convinced her that he _was_ a l'cie. She looked over at his form, and felt confusion. He fought like a complete amateur, but was so fast and strong that it didn't really matter. He had the kind of strength that they had had when they fought Orphan. When they could kill _Adamantoises_. Had he ever truly lost his powers? And if he had continued to have them, did that mean his focus was incomplete? _Focus Farron._ She needed to check his l'cie mark, to see how long he had left. Not for the first time she thought back to Fang and Vanille. She missed them, and knew the others did too. Having them was gone was painful, but with Hope it was doubly so. Fang and Vanille were not here, but Hope had been. For the last 2 years he had been content to forget them and live a new life. And that hurt. She knew Snow and Sazh had wanted to see him too. They had considered going to New Cocoon several times, but had always folded. Maybe he was trying to forget.

There had been celebration when she had rang him to ask him if he wanted to come down for Morty's second birthday-more of a courtesy call by that point- and he had agreed. Now he was here, and it looked like he wouldn't be able to forget that life after all.

She tried to stand, but the pain in her right leg stopped her. She felt her careful control melt.

"You bastard." she growled, as she crawled towards him. "Why have you got l'cie powers again?" She shut out the pain and grabbed him. He stirred slightly, but she punched him in the head. As pain welled in her fists, it became more obvious than ever that she was hurting herself more than she was hurting him. She grabbed his t-shirt and ripped it off. He was still out of it, but recovering quickly. She had to hurry. Rolling him over she inspected his bare chest and back, consternation filling her when she saw nothing. She pulled off his trousers, and after inspecting his legs also found nothing. _Where was it?_ She growled angrily. He was now in his boxer shorts. _It can't be there…can it?_ She sighed. She had to be sure. She pulled his boxer shorts off and seeing nothing on his front side, quickly rolled him over so she could see the other side.

There was nothing on his backside either. She looked over his body again, not understanding. _He's not a l'cie?_ That was impossible. How else could he do all those things? Was he really that strong? Uncertainty started to fill her. Hope groaned and turned on his back, obviously unaware that he had just been stripped. Lightning found herself staring at him. With the baggy clothes he had been wearing, she hadn't noticed, but he was toned and muscular. He didn't look 16, but 20. With a shout Hope covered his groin, as he looked around in panic. She hid a snigger. _Too late for that._

 __()-)(—-_

Hope found the room returning to focus. His head ached and he groaned. For some reason he was on his back, and he with great effort rolled on to his back. He looked to the side and was horrified to see that his clothes were scattered around him. He gave a shout and tried to cover his dignity with his hands. Lightning looked at him expressionlessly. He scowled at her and grabbed his t-shirt, as he slowly stood up. His injuries were already healing. There was something wrong with the way she was sitting, and with a look of horror he saw that her right ankle had been sprained nastily. He scowled at her again before stepping over the door and fleeing into the comforting darkness of his room. Let her wait.

His face felt like it was being drizzled with lava, so complete was his embarrassment. He reached into the shopping bag from earlier and put on the clothes Lightning had bought him from the charity shop. He walked back into her room and looked down on her. She was grimacing in pain, but didn't look ashamed at all. He scowled yet again. He wanted to shut himself in his room, but that was now obviously impossible-he had broken the door. Besides as mad as he was with the thick headed soldier, he couldn't leave her like this. He scooped her in his arms like he had in the morning and carried her downstairs, paying particular attention to bang her feet against the walls. Her shouts of hot rage soothed his anger. Taking her to the kitchen he dumped her unceremoniously on the table. He grabbed her ankle and squeezed it gently, feeling the healing magic reknit her foot, and then go into the rest of her body. After a few seconds it was done. Unlike in the morning, he felt absolutely exhausted, and he crashed on the chair. His head was pounding, and it was difficult to focus on anything.

"You're going to pay for that Light," he said said as he rested his head on the kitchen table.

"I'm sorry Hope. I had to check." She said in a completely unapologetic tone.

"Next time you go for a shower, I'm going to take pictures. Then I'm going to show Snow." He wasn't joking. He really planned on it. She sat up sharply, all wounds healed and fixed him a glare. "You do that-I'll kill you."

"Cause that worked out well for you," he muttered.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she demanded.

"I just kicked you ass- _again_ ," he said smugly. She didn't reply and lifted herself off the table. She sat on one of the chairs opposite him.

"You're good, I'll give you that," she grinned at him. "You're not the same little boy anymore."

Hope looked at her suspiciously. Her aqua blue eyes were twinkling, and only after a few seconds did he detect the mirth.

"You find this _funny_?"

"Unbelievable more like. If you're not a l'cie, then what's up with you?"

"Nothing! I was a member of the martial arts club at school. I…practiced a lot."

Lightning looked at him for a few seconds, before accepting his story. If he wasn't a l'cie, she could think of nothing else to explain his actions. If that was true, he was _incredible._

"Hope, I think you should try out for the Guardian Corps Officer Exam."

"Why all of a sudden?"

"I think you have…potential."

Hope got up from the seat and glared at her, but didn't say anything. He had been planning on taking it anyway. He stormed out of the house, through the beach exit and walked down to the sea, sitting heavily in the sand. He ignored the fact that sand was getting in his new clothes, as he felt the waves caress his feet. _I can't believe she did that!_ **_[You were acting so suspicious, that I find it highly believable that she would resort to such actions]._**

This did not improve his mood. He looked up at the sky. It was a gorgeous orange-yellow, with purple intertwined shards of sky glittering with the stars, as the sun set. The water was warm, and he relaxed as he looked over at the horizon.

"Dads there. Up there in the sky, with all the stars. Up there with mum." He was talking to nobody in particular, and nobody replied to him. It was nice out here, away from her. He felt anger bubbling to the surface and he steered his thoughts in a different direction. She was just worried-he knew that. But he wished her worry didn't mean knocking him out and taking his clothes off. His cheeks burnt red, as he thought back to it.

He sat there, bathing in the dying sunlight, until the starlight started reflecting from the lapping ocean. He thought back to the l'cie days. He had been so different then. So innocent. He wished he could go back to then, sitting near the campfire on Grand Pulse, whilst Fang told everyone funny stories from their past, and Vanille re -enacted the best bits. He had never been so happy as he had then, certain that they were going to die, but to die together-that was a wonderful feeling. Now the future was uncertain. There were no happy endings he realised now. The story always continued. He heard the soft patter of footsteps behind him, and Lightning sat down besides him. She said nothing.

Hope continued to stare at the lapping ocean waves.

"I've always been interested in the horizon, you know. When I was a child, I would look to it, and see that I could look no further. But I would always _know_ that there was a further. Behind what I could see, more existed. I looked knowing that beyond that line people were doing crazy things that I could never imagine. Then it _did_ happen. And to me. Even now, it's hard to believe that all that happened Light. I sometimes have dreams about it, but it still doesn't feel real. When Cocoon fell, and Fang and Vanilla disappeared, I thought it was the end. The end of our adventure. But here we are."

Lightning shifted slightly in the sand. She grabbed some dry sand and let it fall through her fingers.

"It never ends Hope. Not until you're dead. There's always a story to tell."

"I guess I always knew that. But it's nice to think that there's an ending somewhere."

"My dad died when I was young. I hardly remember him." she said quietly. "When my mother passed away, I was only 15. I finished high school and tried to look after Serah."

Lightning grabbed more sand, as she gazed at the horizon. Hope was surprised, he thought she had dropped out.

"It was hard Hope. Harder than anything else I have ever done. I focused on my work to escape. I graduated high school and focused on my work. I tried to shut it out. Everything."

"You graduated high school?" Hope turned to her. She gave a shallow smile.

"Back on Cocoon, you needed to finish high school to enroll." she said. "I used work as an excuse to hide from my sister. I rationalised it as being more important."

There was silence again. Hope looked over at the dark sky and surveyed the stars. He did not speak, indeed there seemed to be no need.

"I have a new family now Hope. Serah, and Snow, and Sazh. And you."

"I'm not family Light. I never was. I was a crazy kid who just wanted answers."

"We all were Hope. But like it or not, we've all you got. And you _are_ family."

"I feel like I'm have no control Light. Sometimes I'm me, you know? But I'm turning into something else. Something I don't know If I want."

"We all have that choice Hope. We can all take control."

Hope stood up slowly and shook his head. "No we don't," he said sadly. He turned his back to her and walked slowly back to the house.


	10. A slight sadness

Hope did not return to the house but decided to go for a walk. It was getting dark, but he felt no need to return to the house and put on some more clothes-it was still quite warm. He walked down the beach for a few minutes before turning off along a small path. There were no streetlights here; only the moon provided illumination. In the faint distance he could hear the sounds of people so he decided to head in that direction, away from the sea. After a few more minutes he came across an underground subway sign.

 _Beachfront_

Hope looked on in interest-he hadn't realised that Kankoon was connected to a subway system. He didn't have any money but he hoped that the fares were free. They had been in New Cocoon at any rate. He _really_ didn't feel like returning home. _I can't believe she did that!_ He blushed furiously as he recalled what she did to him. The station was empty at this time, but he could hear the sound of an approaching train in the distance. He rushed down the stairs and was relieved to find that there was no ticket counters. He went straight down and waited, as the train rushed out of the darkness and into the brightly lit platform. Beachfront was the last stop, and Hope was not surprised to see that the train line was only limited to Kankoon. He would have to get another train from the town centre of he wanted to go to Krantos proper. That was not a problem right now however, so he entered the train. It had a very modern design, and Hope was glad as the cool air of the air conditioning washed over him. The train was connected with no doors between the carriage, and Hope could see all the way down it's length. The few people that were aboard got off. The sides of the trains were covered in glass, allowing passenger to see outside, but above were numerous holographic displays. Some showed tv shows, but most displayed changing advertisements. On the side of his seat-which were bench like along the length of the train was a button with a symbol depicting 'map.' He pressed it.

A holographic map shimmered into the air. A long snaking blue line, over 3d terrain depicted the route of the train.A blinking red sphere at the end of the line showed their current position. Kankoon was not a big town, and the line was small-according to the map only 32 kilometres. The train started to move in the opposite direction to before. As the train started to pick up speed, Hope felt inertia much against him. The speed of the train quickly rose to over 300 miles an hour, and minutes later they were at the next stop. Here a few people got aboard. Hope sat back with a sigh. He decided to get off at a station named _Central Kankoon_. It was 4 stops away-only 15km. Judging by the speed of the train, it would not take long to get there.

His thoughts drifted back to his dad, and he felt the familiar constricting in his throat. _Who did this?_ ** _[What?]_** _Killed my dad and made me into…this._ ** _[You think it was the same people?]_** _I…have a feeling._ ** _[We should let Lightning and the others know. They can help us in case something happens]._**

Hope sighed and rubbed his forehead. It was still painful, but even now the pain was starting to fade. _We can't tell anyone._ ** _[Do you not trust them?]_** _They hate fal'cie. All of them. If I tell them I'm half fal'cie…_ ** _[You think they will abandon you?]_** _I can't take that chance. They are all I have left._ ** _[The people who did this to us are not going to leave you alone. They will be coming-if they are not here already.]_** _Let them come! They took him from me! He was all I had and they took him!_

Hope stood up quickly, the vehemence in his words ringing in the space of his mind. He curled his hands in a tight fist. He _would_ get revenge. There was no grey area here. Not like with his mother. Here it was black and white. They were the enemy. The thought of telling Lightning and the others flicked through his mind. He didn't think that they would abandon him-not really, but he didn't want to rely on their help. He wasn't that small boy anymore. That helpless kid flailing into an uncertain future. _His_ dad had been taken. _He_ would deal with it.

With a graceful stop, the train pulled into Central Kankoon Station. Hope gripped one of the support bars to steady himself. He felt the grief inside him start to form into familiar rage. It was the same rage that had plagued him after his mother had died. It was the same rage that had kept him going. And he needed to be kept going. _Focus on the target Hope._ Lightnings words from so long ago flowed back into his head and he nodded to himself. He needed to focus. First he needed to pass the Guardian Corps officer exam. An impossible order for a 16 year old. At least it would have been if it wasn't for the fact that he was half fal'cie.

He exited the train, and was jerked out of his thoughts by the beauty of the station. The ground was some kind of pink reflective stone, engraved with strange designs. The walls were a mix of red and green rock, with bright blue lines of ore (of some kind) intertwining through. It was gorgeous. He stepped out of the station and emerged in a somewhat familiar landscape. The shopping district he had visited earlier was only a few hundred metres to the right. Hope turned left and headed towards a large building with the sign of an open book. Maybe he could find something useful in the library.

_()—-(-) _()—-(-)

Lightning continued to sit on the beach long after Hope had left. She gazed at the water lapping at her feet. The bright starlight and moon reflecting on its lightly turbulent water. Her body was completely pain free, and she felt horrible. It had been a long time since she had felt this bad. _I didn't even apologise._ She had betrayed his trust and knew it. She had been so _sure._ So confident, and so _angry_ that he was a l'cie and was keeping it a secret. After all they had been through, she should have known he would never have kept such a secret from everyone. He trusted them, which was more than she could say for herself. He had changed so much that he was no longer the Hope she knew. The boy who needed comforting had long gone. The old Hope would probably have taken his clothes off and she let out a soft snort. This Hope was rebellious, angry and seemingly bi-polar. There was something that she couldn't point at about him. He seemed to have a presence that she had never before seen on anyone, never mind him. That fiercely confident way with words had shocked her when he had insinuated she was a...that she liked girls on the airship. _That shocked me._ Now almost nothing he could do would surprise her. She felt something strange as she thought about him, and she didn't like it.

She thought back to her earlier words about him taking the Officer exams. She had regretted it immediately. He needed to go to school and…. _and what Farron?_ She had been the old Hope's mentor, but this he didn't seem particularly inclined to see her that way anymore. He'd rather fight her. It was inconceivable to her. Even more than the fact that he _could_ fight her, it was the fact that he had _decided_ to. They had all changed in the last 2 years. Serah had become a mother. She was more forceful…and tired. The earlier energy she had was slowly fading. Snow was slightly more responsible. Sazh was happier. Truly happy, the dark cloud of his l'cie son forever gone. And she was…different. No longer so cold, she conceded. She had friends in the corps-no longer just colleagues, but actual friends. She had taken up hobbies, no longer burying herself in her work. She _had_ changed, perhaps the most out of any of them. But Hope was so different that she found herself wondering what had happened to him in the last 2 years.

_()—-(-) _()—-(-)

Hope was sitting at one of the library computer terminals reading the screen with dismay. He was on the website for the Guardian Corps recruitment.

 _Guardian Corps Officer Exam._

 _Test date: All day Friday 23rd February._

 _Restrictions: Previous age restriction of 21 has been removed. All ages may apply. Be aware that the exam is difficult and soldiers with no experience in the GC and those who haven't graduated from High school will find it difficult. All criminal restrictions have been lifted._

 _Contents: Corps General Aptitude Battery Exam/ English Comprehension/ Numerical Reasoning/ Situational Judgement/ Complete Physical._

 _Note that interviews have been stopped, in the interest of boosting numbers of successful applicants._

Hope looked at the webpage and frowned. Becoming an officer in the Guardian Corps was no easy feat-or that had been the case in the past. He couldn't understand why the corps were lifting the restrictions so heavily. The page for the normal soldiers was even worse. There were _no_ restrictions, or tests of any kind. Anyone could join the corps now. It didn't make sense.

However that was not the reason for his dismay. Looking at the example questions, he realised that he had no way of answering them. He had not even learnt many of the topics on the numeracy test. The situational judgement was even worse. They required him to select the most appropriate response in regard to various problems. Hope, having never been a soldier simply had no clue.

 _1)_ Using eight eights and addition only, can you make 1000?

2) Skyler picked a bag of cherries to give to his brothers. To the first of his brothers, he gave half of the cherries he had and another one beside. To his second sibling he gave half of the remaining cherries and another one beside. By this time, Skyler had one cherry left. How many did he start with?

.

.

.

.

 ** _[Wouldn't it be easier to finish school first?]_** Hope didn't reply. Razniel was _right_. The most rational decision would be to finish High school and then apply. But he didn't want to. He didn't want to go back to school. He couldn't. _I have a week right? If I fail, then I'll tell Light that I'll go to school._

He resolved to himself that he wouldn't fail. He got up and took note of what kinds of books he would need. His first instinct was to take a photo with his phone, but as he took it out he realised that his phone didn't have a camera. Grabbing the sheet of paper on which he had written the various studying materials he went about searching for the book. He opened his phone and checked the time. It was 8:00. He closed it and headed off. The library was quite small and it didn't take him too long to find the books. Conscious of the time, he took the stack of books to the librarian. A young man was sitting behind the desk, his feet up on the counter. He was smoking a cigarette and reading a book. Hope dumped the books next to him as he waved away the smoke. The man hastily took his feet down and held out his hand. Hope just looked on in confusion.

"I need your card."

"Ah right. I need to set up an account." Hope replied. He hoped this wasn't going to be too arduous of a process. The young man-at least 20- looked at Hope closer.

"Yeah…I don't remember seeing you anywhere before. You new in town?"

"Um…yeah. I'm living with my aunt now."

"Cool! Here's an application form. Just fill in your address, name and job."

Hope took the form and was relieved to note that it was relatively simple. _What's our address?_ ** _[1 Upper Beachfront]_**. _What about occupation?_ ** _[Unemployed?]_**

Hope decided to put unemployed in the application form, not surprised when he saw the young librarian give him a judging look. He _was_ only 16, even if he looked closer to 20. Taking the books in his arm, he set off home. On the way he stopped at a newsagent and spent the last of his money on a thick notebook. The night had grown cooler over the last hour and he smiled as a cool breeze washed over him. There were not many people on the street, being a Sunday night and he made his way to the station quietly.

Within 10 minutes he was once again standing outside Beachfront Station. It was a quick walk back to the house. He decided to take the road instead of the beach, because he suspected Lightning was inside the kitchen. From outside he could see that the lights were on, but the tinted windows prevented him from seeing anything further. Juggling the books in one hand, he grabbed the handle and opened the door. He shut it quickly behind him to prevent any of the marauding insects from entering. The smell of cooking filled his nose, and despite not being hungry, Hope had to admit it smelt good.

"Hey Light." he called out. A faint heat returning to his cheeks. He didn't look her in the eyes. She turned around from the frying pan and put her arms on her hips, fixing him with a cool stare.

"I was in the library," he explained, still not meeting her eyes. She looked at him for a few seconds before sighing and turning back to whatever she was cooking.

"I'm sorry Hope."

"Huh?"

"For what I did earlier. I should have trusted you."

 ** _[This would be a good time to open your bag of secrets]._**

For a moment Hope thought about telling her. It would be so easy. She would take care of everything, just like last time. He would be able to rely on her and some of the weight would be lifted from his tired shoulders. But something fiery within him rose again, just like it had on the train. _This is our problem to deal with. I don't want anyone's help. I've grown._ ** _[Yeah. 2 years.]_**

Hope ignored Razniels snigger and simply nodded to Light. He sat down heavily at the kitchen table dumping the books as he did so. There were several of them and they made a loud thump.

"What did you get?" Lightning asked.

"Books on the GC exam." There was silence for a moment, but Hope already knew what she was going to say. "It's no big deal. It's unlikely I'll pass anyway. If I fail, I'll go back to school."

Lightning nodded slowly, as if unsure.

"What you cooking?" he tried to change the subject.

"Tuna steaks with lemon and herbs," she replied as she flipped one of the steaks over unleashing a fresh bout of sizzling. "Hope, you have a phone now; we need to exchange numbers. I wanted to call you earlier."

Hope got his phone out and added Lightning as a contact. Phone contact networks nowadays used a wireless grid to connect everyone together. Even the cheapest phone (like his) could be connected. At the moment however, he hadn't connected. He browsed to find his old account and synced it to the new phone. Almost immediately the phone was awash with new messages, and wouldn't stop vibrating. Hope turned it to silent and examined all the new messages. Some of his friends had visited him in the hospital but it seemed that none of them knew he had moved away, except for Vin- he had used Lightnings computer yesterday to message him. He ignored them for now and tried to find Lightnings account.

"What was your first name again?" he asked as he scrolled down on 'Faron'

"Why?" she asked, a slight edge to her tone. She didn't seem willing to tell him. But as he continued to scroll down he saw her account-

 _Lightning Farron_

"Ah-I've got it. I spelt 'Farron' wrong." He said quickly, to avoid any awkwardness. Her first name wasn't really important to him. Calling her anything but Light would be weird anyway.

Hope sat cross-legged on the chair and putting his phone down, he started to open the library books. He sighed and started to read. _Only a week._ Soon after Lightning brought the tuna steaks. He wasn't hungry, but strangely did not feel full up. He decided to eat anyway so as not to raise her ire. They ate in silence, as Hope continued to flick through the books. He decided to start studying tomorrow, as he felt his headache returning. _I can't believe she smashed a vase on my head!_

Washing his dish, he went into the living room and slumped into the sofa. Without turning the TV on, he just lay there. Looking at the ceiling. He heard Lightning doing something in the kitchen but ignored it, and closed his eyes.

_()—-(-) _()—-(-)

After dinner, which had been extremely simple- fried tuna steaks with drops of lemon juice- Lightning stretched and yawned. Hope had gone into the living room, and the kitchen was quiet. She could almost smell the desperation in her superiors as they continually lowered the requirements to join. She didn't know _why_ they were so desperate. Krantos had hardly any wildlife incursions. The fact that many of the new recruits were being sent out to other regions of Pulse did not escape her notice however.

She didn't think Hope could pass the exam. He would do well in the physical test, she was sure of that, but she didn't see how he could pass the written exams. _Maybe he'll surprise me._ She was conflicted. Him joining the GC was not what she wanted. Enrolling at an officer academy at 16 was unheard of. It would be far better if he went to school and got a job that suited him. She thought to herself however, she didn't know _what_ suited him. Not anymore.

She opened one of the kitchen drawers and got out a small book. She didn't usually have much time to read. Despite what she had told Snow on the Kalhoa, she _did_ spend most of her time at work. Even on weekends she was at the base-even if most of the time was spent socialising with her fellow soldiers. The reformed GC was much more relaxed than its previous incarnation, and together with the fact that she had loosened up, she had made many friends. She thought with a hint of regret that if she she passed the GC officer exam she would likely not see them for a while. Of course it was unlikely that she would be able to go anyway in the near future. She had taken on the responsibility of looking after Hope. She couldn't leave for a year whilst he was still at school. Likely she would have to wait until he graduated.

She sat down at the kitchen table and started reading. The book was a crime mystery novel set on Cocoon. It was one of the few books that had been recovered from the fallen world. It reminded her of times long since past. Not altogether happier times. It reminded her of a time when her mother was still around. Not that she would ever admit that to anyone-not even Serah. After a few minutes she found the straight backed wooden chair uncomfortable and keeping the book with her, decided to see what Hope was doing in the living room. Closing the kitchen light she entered the living room and was surprised to see that the light was closed and the TV off. _Maybe he's not here._ She turned the light on on the dimmest setting and realised he _was_ there. He looked like he was sleeping. She crossed her arms and gave him a cool stare. After a few seconds she rolled her eyes and approached the sofa.

Hope was sprawled atop it. His arms and feet dangling and his breathing steady. As she looked upon his face she realised that he was not sleeping. He was staring at the ceiling, the lines of drying tears carved across his cheeks. He didn't say anything, did not even turn his head. Lightning looked on him and gave a slight smile. There was no humour in her eyes. It was the kind of smile that you give to someone who is lost and doesn't remember where they came from, and doesn't know where to go, but doesn't want to stay where they are. She knew what being lost, adrift and disconnected, felt like. She lay the book at the edge of his sofa, by his feet and headed into the kitchen. She grabbed a clean white towel and poured cold water on it. After wringing it she brought it back to Hope and placed it on his head.

"I'm sorry about the vase," she whispered sheepishly. His eyes tracked her as she pulled away from him.

"Light?" he asked. "What do you think about the fal'cie?"

Lightning was surprised by the question.

"What do I think of them? They are monsters. All of them. It's because of them that we're here." Her voice was filled with vehemence. _Because of them Serah had nearly…Fang and Vanille…_

Hope nodded slowly to himself, as if that's what he had been expecting. "What about half fal'cie?" His words sounds forced as if he was reluctant to say them. Lightning just looked at him flatly, wondering where this conversation was coming from.

"What?"

"A half human, half fal'cie."

"That's impossible," she dismissed, once again grabbing her book.

"Hypothetically then." For some reason he was not giving up.

"Then it should be destroyed. If a fal'cie possesses someone then they are better off dead, and should be terminated or at the very least imprisoned and taken apart for study." Her voice was callous in a way that perhaps she didn't even intend. Hope just nodded again and once more looked at the ceiling. Lightning sat down on the fluffy carpet in front of the sofa, leaning her back against it and opened her book.

"What was your dad like?" A quiet voice from behind her. Lightning put the book down and looked to the side as she thought about it.

"I don't remember. When I think back to those days I can only remember a vague outline…and a smiling face."

"I wonder what is worse…growing up and knowing your parents and having them die or having them die before you know them. To have only empty shadows haunt your dreams?"

"Having them die when you know them is worse. I don't think about my father. There is nothing to think about. But my mother…There is not a day that goes by when I don't think about her." She was surprised by her own candidness, but she felt she could be honest with him on this. He lay silent for a moment.

"I wish I could have said goodbye." he muttered. "When mum passed, I promised myself that I wouldn't take him for granted. That I would spend time with him. And I _did._ But it doesn't feel like it was enough. I could have spent more time with him. I _should_ have spent more time with him." His voice did not break. He spoke sadly, and she wasn't sure he was even speaking to her. She looked down at her outstretched knees thinking of how to respond.

"I know Hope." In the end that was all she could say. Not a day went past when she didn't wish the same.

_()—-(-) _()—-(-)

It was early morning when Hope awoke. He had only slept for three hours but felt fully refreshed. Physically at least. Mentally he felt more alone than he ever had. He wondered if Lightning would really do what she said yesterday. He wasn't sure. She had gone against everyone for Serah, but would she do the same thing for him? He had noted the barely concealed hatred in her voice and it had frightened him. He had cracked in a moment of weakness as he lay there on the sofa last night. The stress finally proving too much. He had wanted to tell her, but now there was no chance of that. He could only go forwards to a place and future that he couldn't even begin to see. He would have to go alone. He pulled the long dry white towel off his head and sat up. He was not feeling hungry yet and he checked his watch. Only 5:00.

He stretched and thought about taking a shower, but oddly he didn't feel even slightly dirty. There was not a trace of sweat on his clothes. Funnily enough he hadn't gone to the toilet either since the time he had been in hospital. Shrugging his shoulders he walked to the kitchen and sitting at the table began to study, finally clear from the headache. Lightning came down an hour later, evidently surprised to see Hope already up and studying. She was wearing her usual GC uniform, the red cape swaying behind her. Hope looked at his own white t-shirt and snorted, before turning his attention back to his books. This was going to be a _long week._

After a few hours of struggling with maths problems, Hope popped outside quickly to buy another coconut, and carrying his prize with him eagerly took it back inside.

Lightning had long since left for work. He was starting to get bored, and it was only the first day. He sighed and rubbed his head. _Do you understand these problems?_ ** _[No. Why would I? They are human problems]._** _Great._

Despite being only 6:12 in the morning, it was a fabulously bright day outside. Being stuck indoors felt like such a waste. He longed to be outside. **_[Why not study out on the beach?]_** _On the sand?_ ** _[Why not? Take the coconut with you.]_** Razniel really liked the coconut. _Is it possible for you to take control?_ ** _[What do you mean?]_** _Well we are technically the same being, so can you take control and do some studying?_ ** _[…]_** _Give it a go._ ** _[Hmm.]_**

Hope suddenly found himself being sucked away from reality and control. It was a process he found that he could easily stop if he willed, but he decided to let Razniel take control. He suddenly found himself in a black space. He couldn't see the outside world or anything else. It was a permeating blackness. But he _knew_ everything that was going on around him. He had no body, just awareness. As he focused his thoughts he found it easy to create a 'body' and he walked around. The world around him started to take on strange shapes and colours and seemed to be like a dream. He felt completely at peace. All the problems of the real word were but a distant problem. He still had emotions but they were less forceful. Just overwhelming contentment. He found himself not wanting to leave, as he waved his hands and the scenery changed. He found himself looking at a glowing sunset that he had just conjured. With a flick of his hand he changed the colour from orange to green and watched from a cliff as the still ocean below him sparked in various hues of emerald.

This was like a dream. A dream that he could control. Why would be ever want to return, when being here was so… ** _[I've had enough.]_** Hope was startled for a second and then with a face-palm realised that Razniel was controlling his body extremely poorly. He was finding it extremely difficult even to stand as he stumbled about in the sand. There were a few people about but none seemed to have noticed yet. Hope took control back quickly, bringing the meat vehicle of the body under safe reins once more. He felt slightly dizzy as the world popped into view and he fell into the sand, dropping his books everywhere. The coconut was luckily protected, being wedged safely between his arms.

 _I can't believe you're staying in such a cool space! What is it?_ ** _[Just mind space. Inside a dream. Now that I've experienced the real world, I find it lacking. It is much better to experience it from here.]_** _No way! I want to go back._ ** _[I cannot control the body. Even talking is impossible.]_** _I've seen fal'cie talk. Barthandalus could never shut up!_ ** _[He was not using muscular contractions to squeeze fixed volumes of air out of his throat to make a distinctive series of sounds. He was using magic.]_**

Hope sullenly picked up the books and headed towards the ocean. He set his books down on the dry sand before rolling up his trousers and dipping his toes in the lapping waves of the cool water. White froth curled around his toes as he wiggled them. He spotted a small hermit crab a few metres away. Scooping a small amount of wet sand in his toes he dropped it over the crab and buried it. A few seconds later the crab heroically dug itself out and gave him what he imagined to be a baleful glare before scurrying off in the opposite direction. He gave a laugh, feeling the wind in his face and he smiled. He stood there and looked into the horizon, the deep blue sky and the aqua blue sea converging in that far away line.

_()—-(-) _()—-(-)

Commander Amodar looked at the email again. He couldn't believe it. High Command in New Cocoon, a dispatch from General Riko Tuovar herself, was to be sent to the Kankoon branch of the Guardian Corps. This was simply beyond strange. Amodar sighed and leaned back in his leather chair. He swivelled around and faced the large windows that decorated the back of his office. He was facing the sea-in fact the entire base was built just off the ocean. It wasn't a large base for Kankoon was not a large town. There were only a hundred or so soldiers, and if he was honest even that was too large. Kankoon hadn't been hit by an incursion of Pulsian wildlife since its inception. There was not a lot to do the soldiers except to patrol the streets and act as police. Kankoon didn't have a Psicom department. Resources were tight and there was no pressing need.

Which made this all the stranger. Soon, several high ranking officials would be coming to Kankoon to _inspect_ _munitions_. It was such a lazy excuse, that they weren't even trying to make a cover. Kankoon base barely had any munitions. It barely had anything. They would be arriving tomorrow, on Tuesday, and he now had a lot of work to do. There was a knock on his door and he swivelled back around. It was only 11:00. The soldiers should be out training the new recruits. He had an ominous feeling.

"Come in." If it was that moron Gadot again…

It wasn't Gadot- it was the pink haired soldier Farron. She stood by the door until he beckoned her inside. She did a crisp salute and walked halfway into his office.

"What is it Farron?" He said in a distracted voice.

"Sir. It's about the new recruits…"

Amodar sighed. He already knew where this was going.

"What about the new recruits?"

"I can't train them sir. They're not fit to be in the corps. They should go join Psicom," she said cooly with a slight sneer on the last word. Amodar crossed his arms and stared at her.

"I see. And is this in any way related to the incident earlier this morning."

The pink haired soldier crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. She started pacing around in the room.

"Why are we letting such…idiots in?" she asked obviously frustrated.

"If you mean Gadot…"

"He's not even the worst. Today I…"

"Yes, I heard. You punched Private Dogar I believe. Bust open her nose and ruined her pretty face." Amodars voice took on a stern tone and he stood up. He had been meaning to talk to her about her attitude.

"Farron I _know_ Kankoon is boring. That's why I've recommended you to transfer multiple times. If you want to stay close to your sister than thats fine. But you can't go around assaulting junior members of the corp. Especially if you hope to become an officer!"

The soldier had at least the sense to look mildly regretful. He knew it had been a bad idea to put such an unforgiving soldier in charge of training the new recruits, but Farron was _so good_ that the cost benefit analysis had come out in favour. He hadn't expected her to lash out at a rookie though, even if the rookie had called her and her sister "l'cie filth." She should have better control of her emotions than that. The fact was that Farron was by far the best soldier in Kankoon. She was wasted here and she knew it. The only thing keeping her here was her sisters presence. He considered it a miracle that he had convinced her that leaving to go to Krantos Officer Academy was a good idea.

"Look. Just go back home. Study. Relax. Whatever. Just don't damage the recruits. And by the way, you may have heard already but tomorrow some brass from New Cocoon are coming-for…munitions inspections."

"I heard. I don't buy it." Lightning replied, pointedly ignoring her commanders earlier words. "You're telling me that they're coming here to look at our armoury?" She raised her eyebrows at him, clearly skeptical. Amodar sighed again.

"No, that's what _they_ told _me._ I don't know the truth and I don't have time to care. They want to come to see our fine selection of weapons, then fine. Let them. Now go home and cool that head of yours. Dismissed."

Lightning hid her scowl and saluted him before turning and leaving. The base was fairly small and it was not long before she was outside. She walked along the outskirts of the main building, passing no one and went up onto the deserted beach. Most of the GC were either training in the gym or relaxing. Most were likely relaxing. She herself liked to train early in the mornings when the gym was less crowded.

She didn't want to go back home, but there was nothing to do in the base. Up until last year the GC went on patrol around the town, giving her _something_ to do. There was so little crime however that that practice had been discontinued. Now they just waited at the base until someone called. Which had happened precisely twice in the last year.

The morning had been a disaster. She rubbed her forehead gently and let out a small sigh. From the beginning she knew she would hate training the useless recruits, but Amodar hadn't given her much choice. She did regret striking that private though-she would rather have shot her. She glared out at the ocean and crossed her arms once more. She couldn't believe that such useless people were being allowed in the corps. As much as she loved Serah, she couldn't stay in Kankoon much longer. She knew that, even if she didn't want to admit it. It was stifling. That was part of the reason why she wanted Hope to pass the exam to the GC officer academy- pipe dream though it may be. It would give her a way out. Otherwise she would be stuck in this town for another 2 years, until he turned 18. She was starting to regret telling him to stay with her. It would have been much easier if he was with Serah and Snow. In her concern at the time she had been blind to that. It was too late now. Glaring at the ocean one last time she turned around and began the walk home along the beach.

_()—-(-) _()—-(-)

Half an hour later she arrived. She saw her house in the distance. Snow, Sazh and Serah would be at the their hotel and Dajh and Morty would be at school and nurses respectively. The beach was deserted. Hope would probably be studying. As she continued to walk along the beach she saw that she was wrong. The beach was not quite deserted. She saw the figure of Hope lying in the sand. Several of the books he had acquired yesterday lay scattered around him. He was wearing a pair of dark brown sunglasses. _Wait. Are those my sunglasses?_

She walked up behind him and placing her hands on her hips looked down.

"What are you doing Hope?" She said cooly. When he didn't reply, she started to get annoyed. She bent down and whisked the sunglasses off his face. She was surprised to see that he was taking an afternoon nap. _So much for studying._ Inspecting her glasses she discovered several scratches. He had obviously manhandled them. Feeling a bit peeved, she grabbed a handful of sand and dropped it on his face and into his open mouth. He spluttered and spat out the sand as he rolled on his side. Slowly getting up he brushed the sand of his face and glared at her. He continued to try and spit out the sand, and she noted with satisfaction that his tongue was coated with the coarse particles. Still glaring at her he scooped up his scattered books and scuttled indoors. She snorted and followed him inside.

Hope sat heavily at the table and grabbed one of the books and opened it. She considered going up to her room to study alone but decided to just relax for a while. It had been a tiring half-day and she didn't feel like studying quite yet. Walking over to the kitchen she set the kettle to a boil.

"Want some coffee?" she called out, whilst searching the overhead cabinet.

"Uh, yeah! Thanks. No sugar."

She brought two hot, steaming mugs to the table a few minutes later. They were filled to the brim and she did not slow down with them in hand. Yet not a drop was spilt. She sat down opposite Hope and looked outside, at the people walking along the road, as she lost herself in her thoughts.

"Whats wrong Light?" Hope asked without looking up from his book.

"Nothing."

"OK."

Hope said the word simply and seemed to forget her again. She found herself annoyed for some reason. She found herself waiting for him to ask again but he maintained his silence. The only sounds that permeated the kitchen were the scratching of his pencil as he took notes in a blank notebook he had found somewhere. _Probably mine._ She scowled as she thought back to her sunglasses. He had probably rummaged in her room. She would have to speak to him about privacy and personal space, but now wasn't the right time.

After a half hour or so she finally got up, bringing both empty mugs to the sink before trudging upstairs. She much preferred being in the field to being at a desk, but right now she had no choice. She focused her mind on her goal, and ignoring everything else set out to achieve her target as she sat down at her desk and began to study. She would not fail.


	11. Secrets revealed

It was Friday, the 23rd. Hope lay awake in bed. He had no illusions of how this week was going to go. He had thought, initially and with some giddy excitement that the amalgamation of human and fal'cie would make him some sort of mary sue. He would be unstoppable; a force of nature.

It hadn't happened. His physical abilities were exceptional, as one would expect, but unfortunately there were no mental powers that came with it. He was no cleverer, or if he was, not in the traditional sense-and not in a way that would help him with the exam. Hope rolled over onto his side and hid his head under the pillow. He was surely going to fail. Hours earlier he had tried a mock paper and scored an atrocious 22%. The numeracy was not too bad- he had always been good at maths and science, but the situational judgement tests and Verbal reasoning were timed and far too difficult. The situational judgement in particular was horrible. It assumed prior knowledge of GC tactics that he simply didn't have.

Not for the first time Hope wondered if he should just give up and go to school. It was the sensible thing to do. _I'm going to have to, if I fail this exam._ A part of him wanted to join the ordinary corps, but he had a specific reason for wanting to be an officer. **_[Its a silly idea.]_**

 _It is a great idea. Once I get promoted high enough, I'll be able to do my own investigation. I won't need anyone's help._ ** _[That will take years at the least. Whoever did this to us will find us long before then. You need to tell your friends so at least they can help.]_** _No! You heard Lightning before. How can we trust them with this? We need to handle this ourselves._ ** _[Stop being a childish moron. You really think she would let anyone take you away? Tell her before it's too late.]_**

Hope ignored him and scowling jumped out of bed. He realised of course that Lightning had probably been speaking hyperbole, but it still unnerved him. He flicked off his clothes and went into the shower. He wasn't dirty of course- the last week had proved that he just didn't get dirty. But the hot water was always appreciated. He checked his watch.

5:42

He hung a towel outside and stepped in. As the hot water washed over him, his thoughts wandered over to the days events. He pushed Razniels warning to the back of his mind. The first exam would be Numerical Reasoning, followed by Verbal and then the Situational Judgement. Followed by lunch and then the Corps General Aptitude Battery Exam. After _that_ would be a complete physical test. It was going to be a long day. He emerged from the shower and put on his clothes-a white t-shirt and baggy tracksuit. His clothes from his old house had come in, but they weren't suitable for today.

He met Lightning downstairs in the kitchen. She was wearing a cream sports suit. He was sure it was issued by the Guardian Corps for training, but it looked so general that he could not be sure. She was sitting at the kitchen counter, drinking a coffee. She looked composed and not flustered in the least. As he staggered down the stairs she fixed him with a cool stare.

"Ready?" She asked.

"Uh, no."

Lightning only nodded and focused back on her coffee. It was obvious she didn't expect him to pass. Last night Snow, Serah and Sazh had joined them for dinner. She had told them that he was going to take the test, and their expressions had ranged from bewildered to laughter. Snow had laughed. He didn't blame them. Sitting heavily on the bar stool next to Lightning he rested his elbows on the granite kitchen counter and cupped his head in his hands.

"It will be ok Hope. Just focus and you'll be fine."

"Easy for you to say!"

Lightning pushed a mug of coffee towards him. He felt it. It was lukewarm. She had obviously been down here for quite some time. Taking a sip he tried to regulate his thoughts. He was wildly nervous- and it showed. He couldn't stop fidgeting. After a few minutes he got up and walked to the other side of the kitchen where the wooden breakfast table was. On it were the books from last night that he had left. He sat down and tried to get some last minute revision in.

Distracting him from his troubled mind was the sound of a vehicle outside. He looked through the window and saw a taxi slowly descending. He cursed. _If only I had more time._ ** _[Time's up. Let's go!]_**

In contrast to Hope, Razniel was very much looking forward to this day. Feelings like nervousness and anxiety were completely foreign to him. He could still feel them-for example with the issue of being chased by the people who merged them together. But for something like an exam, the fal'cie couldn't understand why Hope was so anxious.

He followed Lightning outside the house and into the taxi. As usual it was autonomous. She punched in the coordinates and the taxi once again rose into the air. Looking down, Hope could see no sign of John the coconut seller. Maybe it was too early. The flight was not long-a mere half hour, but it was spent in silence. Both of the occupants staring silently out of the window, lost in their thoughts. The test was held in Krantos proper, in the GC Officer Academy. As the taxi started its descent Hope was startled at the sheer size of the base. He almost thought he could see a lake concealed inside.

"How could they build something so huge?"

"No one built it. The base was unfolded by the Krantos manufacturing unit."

Hope didn't say anything. He didn't really understand how the excavated Pulsian Packages were used, but they were incredibly impressive. From school he remembered that the packages allowed customisation of the city beforehand. One could choose the layout of the city, what size buildings and so on. Different manufacturing units had different options, which was why for example Krantos and New Cocoon looked so different. In New Cocoon, the city was dominated by sky lanes, but here in Krantos there were _roads_.

These roads were kilometres in the air. Even in the most technological parts of Eden, there had been nothing like this. The roads, made of, it was said, hardened light, shone a light blue cadence against the rising orange sun. They were everywhere, weaving around buildings like thick thistle. The taxi continued to descend until Hope felt the slight bump of contact and suddenly they were no longer flying but driving.

At incredible speeds the taxi followed several series of roads in a hopelessly confusing pattern. No human driver could possible have navigated them. It took only minutes to arrive at the Officer Academy. The taxi took a smaller sky road and entered into a small tunnel. They popped out into a gigantic open area. It was one enormous building, like a parking garage except at least a hundred metres high. Hope gasped. It was impossibly huge. _Who were the ancient Pulsians?_ There was no answer from Razniel. Hope got the impression that he wasn't even paying attention to the surroundings.

The taxi slowed and followed a series of flashing purple lights to the visitor disembarkation zone. Hope looked out of the window at the busy scene below him. There were hundreds of people, likely engineers working on vehicles of some kind. The GC Officer Academy was the largest military base in Krantos. Despite being called an academy, training new officers was only a small part of its functions. Hundreds of air and land vehicles were parked. Tanks, planes and light armoured vehicles were arranged in neat lines. They looked shiny and impressive, and from their design he could tell that they were vehicles scavenged from Cocoon. He recognised a few of them. There were a few Uhlans and Bulwarkers, several havoc Skytanks, a few dozen Manasarvin Warmechs and countless other military weapons. Having fought pretty much all of them, he knew that they were tough.

The taxi continued to to slowly follow the flashing purple beacons and soon arrived at the landing zone. Unfortunately there was already a queue, comprised of what Hope expected were the other candidates.

Several minutes later they exited the taxi and made their way to the reception building. It was a short walk, but there were so many things going on that Hope was thoroughly confused. He stayed close to Lightning who made her way confidently through the almost maze like building.

 _Whoosh!_

"Fuck!" Hope cursed throwing himself to the floor as an aerial vehicle passed just metres overhead, the sound of its engines still ringing in his ears as he slowly got up. Lightning seemed unfazed, as she studies the direction signs. Due to his sensitive hearing, the sound of the engines were much louder to him. Eventually though they both made it to the reception.

The reception building was connected to the Academy Hanger Bay by a series of large underground tunnels. There were already people walking through them-Hope assumed that they were also here for the exam. Looking at the fellow applicants, he was not filled with confidence. The applicants-soldiers all of them- carried themselves confidently heads held high. They all looked like they had extensive battle experience. He himself had had a crazy adventure, but it could not compare to years of experience. _They were all like Lightning!_

Due to their early timing, the queue to the building was very small, and after around a 15 minute wait they stood in front of one of the reception desks that had been commandeered specially for this day. A man and woman sat, looking up at them.

"Applicants?"

Lightning gave a curt nod.

"Name?"

"Claire Farron."

"Are you a member of the Guardian Corps?"

"Sergeant."

The man asked the questions whilst the lady typed the data into the computer. After a few more minutes of questioning, a small punchcard was printed with a 5 digit number. The man handed it to her and she stepped aside.

"Name?"

"Uh, Hope Estheim."

"Are you a member of the Guardian Corps?"

"No sir."

"Age?"

Hope considered lying, but he didn't think Lightning would approve.

"Um I'm 16." Hope muttered, hoping the people nearby wouldn't hear. The man unfortunately reacted predictably poorly.

"Do you think this is a joke candidate?"

"No! I'm…I'm really 16!" His heart was pounded painfully, his face flushing as he realised that everyone was looking his way.

"Show me some identification candidate." The man snapped. Lightning just rolled her eyes and crossed her arms. Hope reached into his wallet and handed his id to the man. The man oogled in disbelief before looking back at Hope. You look different to this photo candidate. Is this you candidate?" The man stood up.

"He's had a growth spurt. What's the problem?" Lightning said coldly, as she glared at him. The man turned to look back at Lightning but whatever retort he had been planning died on his lips.

"16? What the hell do you think this is candidate? Motherfucker looks more like 20." The man sat back down and looked with disdain at Hope. He noticed similar looks from the gathered applicants. Using his enhanced hearing he could hear…unsavoury whispers about him.

"Address?"

"1 Upper Beachfront."

The man gave Hope a long look before looking at the pink haired soldier next to him. The fact that they had given the same address had unfortunate implications. If things had been normal, he would have already rejected both of these weirdos. However things were not normal. For some reason the senior management had completely removed the age restriction. It wasn't a big deal however. There was little chance such a punk could pass the exams. He gave the newly printed punchcard to the boy before shifting his concentration to the applicants behind.

_()—-(-) _()—-(-)

Commander Amodar stood at attention. He couldn't believe what was happening. In his office were two of the most senior figures in the entire Corps; General Riko Tuovar and Colonel Rygdea.

They had arrived yesterday, but had only presented themselves an hour ago. Rumours were everywhere but no one knew the true reasons for their sudden arrival.

"I take it you want to see our munitions?" Amodar asked sarcastically.

"Commander Amodar don't be coy." General Tuovar said.

The General was truly a beauty. She had long blonde hair with dark violet eyes. She stood taller than Rygdea, but not much. She seemed to be around the same height as Farron.

"We're here for Hope Estheim." Rygdea said as he casually stretched.

"Estheim? The l'cie? Why?"

"The reason is not important. I need his location. He needs to be…encouraged to join the Guardian Corps. We need to get him before Psicom."

"Wait wait wait a minute now General." Amodar raised his hands. "What is going on here? Hope? What's so important about that kid?"

"That's classified. Just tell us where he is."

"He's living with Sergeant Farron I believe. But he's in Krantos at the moment. For some stupid reason he's trying to take the GC Officer exam."

Riko and Rygdea looked at each other in surprise.

"So they're in Krantos at the moment?"

"Should be."

Both officers turned around and left, not even engaging in formalities. Amodar watched completely bewildered as the door slowly closed behind them. _What the hell was going on?_

_()—-(-) _()—-(-)

The first part of the assessment was over. The written parts were all completed. All that was left was the physical. Lightning stood outside the exam hall, watching the other applicants file out. Hope sat depressed beside her feet. The assault course was a 5 minute walk from their current location, but they had a 10 minute break, and she saw no reason to rush. She ignored Hope and looked at the surroundings. She hadn't expected him to pass, and although a part of her had wanted him to so she could leave Kankoon earlier, she admitted that it was as likely to happen as a fal'cie making her a cup of coffee.

In front of them was a large grass lawn. Behind that, a small woodland of sorts, which presumably housed the assault course. The chirping of birds and the softer sounds of larger fauna scampering about could be heard from within the woodlands.

The size of the Academy was shocking, though she had not betrayed her feelings outwards. It was disconcerting to think that in only 2 years something so monstrous could have been made. From what she had seen of Packages, their deployment was as easy as pressing a button. It had been that way with Krantos 2 years previously. She remembered the excavated Manufacturing Unit as clearly as if it was yesterday. It had been a giant 100 metre by 100 metre cube, far too large to be moved. It had had some strange interface, and the settlers having no real idea of how to use it, just kept fiddling with it until it had started doing something. The cube had started to dissolve slowly and the city of Krantos had been constructed. Atom by atom. The technology went far into excess of anything that had ever existed in Cocoon. It seemed that it self maintained, which was a good thing. There weren't enough people to do it manually. Each of the three cities on the Triangle- New Cocoon, Krantos and Reru, were easily large enough to house the entire population of Cocoon in its heyday. Yet of Cocoons population, only 5 million had survived. The cities were basically ghost towns.

Lightning worried that the increasing dependence on Ancient Pulsian technology had stifled their own innovation. It seemed that no one invented knew things anymore. It was argued that since all the factories on Cocoon had been destroyed, if not for the Pulsian Packages, then industry itself would have been destroyed, for there would not have been any way to rebuild the factories. In all likelihood they would have been living in shanty towns, without even the barest of modern conveniences. Certainly no flying cars or hard light sky roads.

Distracted from her thoughts by the sound of Hope sighing again, she turned towards him.

"Cheer up Hope." Lightning smirked. "School isn't _that_ bad."

She heard him grumble again as he cupped his head into his hands. By now the tests would have been scanned into the computer and the results recorded.

"Lets go." She ordered as she uncrossed her arms and started to walk towards the woodlands. The stream of applicants had lessened considerably now, but there was nevertheless a general direction in which they were headed. She guessed that many of them were repeat applicants. She hadn't found the tests too challenging, but she certainly didn't expect to come top. She had always excelled in the hands-on parts.

After a few minutes of walking in silence she saw the outlines of a large wooden wall. It was at least 10 metres high, with a slight number of barely perceptible grooves. That, she assumed, was the start of the course. She looked to her side and met eyes with Hope. She felt pricks of… _something_ …as their gazes met. His face was crumpled with displeasure at his poor showing earlier in the written exams, but his eyes shone with passion and a relentless fury that she couldn't connect with the 14 year old boy she had once known. She didn't think he even realised the strength and power in his own gaze. She snorted and looked away. He had grown up to be a strange kid.

_()—-(-) _()—-(-)

Hope found himself looking in Lightnings eyes. He looked at her wearily for a few seconds before she snorted gently and looked away. _What's up with her?_ ** _[Who knows? The morning was pretty…bad, but this is where we'll make up the marks!]_**

Razniel sounded confident, and despite himself Hope found his heart starting to pump faster, adrenaline-or whatever the half fal'cie equivalent was- coursing through him. _We can do this._

They all gathered in front of the giant wooden wall. It was a monstrosity. He couldn't see any way up it. Just in front of the wall was a young woman wearing the cap of an Academy cadet. She was most likely a second year. There were many people in front of them so he couldn't see her clearly. Next to her were several officials. Hope thought he saw Rygdea, from the l'cie days, but he dismissed it and focused on the words of the cadet. Rygdea was supposedly a Colonel now. There had been a scandal a while back, when Cid Raines, the former head of the Guardian Corps had turned traitor and left to establish his own rogue bandit camp or whatever it was, after he had secretly found a Package.

"This assault course is not timed. Instead, it is a race. There are 170 of you on this particular assault course. Only the first 20 to pass the course will be accepted. Is that understood?"

There was a general smattering of agreement, and the cadet neatly saluted and walked to the side next to the higher ranking officials. Hope saw clearly now, that Rygdea was indeed there. From a slight stiffening in Lightnings posture, he knew that she had also seen him. The beautiful woman next to him looked like General Tuovar. He had seen her on the news several times, but he couldn't understand why they would be here to watch a routine physical test for aspiring Guardian Corps officers. He had a nasty feeling that it had to do with him.

 _What if they are here for me?_ ** _[Why would they be?]_** _I…don't know._

The officials started to clear out of the way and exited towards a central podium that was in the middle of the assault course. It would provide an excellent view of the entire course and all the candidates. The fluttering sapphire blue cape of the General danced in the wind, and Hope felt a ominous feeling in the pit of his stomach. He focused on them, shutting the sounds of everything around him out.

{"I'm talking about candidate H. Estheim."

"A H. Estheim? Hang on let me check…Ah here he is."

"Well?"

"Estheim, I'm afraid won't be able to join the Officer Academy. Not a surprise really-he's only 16."

"How did he do on the written test?"

"Abysmal. 28 on Verbal, 45 on Numeracy, 12 on Situational Judgement."

"You're going to pass him."

"Beg your pardon ma'am?"

"I said you are going to pass him. It's a matter of Pulsian Security."

"I…I don't understand."

"Remember the l'cie from 2 years ago?"

"Yes Colonel."

"He was one of them. Something new has happened related to that."

"He cannot be allowed to fail. Do you understand me? We need him under extremely close supervision. We're going to bring in staff for that especial purpose."

"Yes ma'am."}

Hope's breathing stopped. He could no longer see them and their voices were being drowned out, but he had heard enough. He was _fucked._

 ** _[One thing at a time. Focus on this assault course. Then we can decide what to do.]_**

Hope felt like vomiting, but breathed deeply and nodded. He dimly heard the sound of a whistle and he shot off towards the wall charging in front of everyone.

 _Those bastards. It was them wasn't it? They killed my father. They did this to me! They took_ everything.

Hope didn't climb the wall, he _kicked_ it. No longer fearing any reprisals, he smashed his right foot into the metre thick wood with all his strength, and with almost contemptuous ease obliterated it. Fragments of wood exploded forwards with a deafening crack and he stepped forwards over the collapsed ruins. There were startled gasps from behind him but he ignored them, and started running forwards.

_()—-(-) _()—-(-)

Lightning looked at the broken wall blankly. For the first time since the l'cie adventures she was truly shocked.

"Hope," she whispered, running after him. She didn't know what was going on. She couldn't believe what she had just witnessed. She put the thousand questions bubbling in her mind behind her and sprang after him.

He had suddenly gone dead eyed moments before, whilst looking in the direction of Rygdea and the others. She felt a slight annoyance creep up on her. He had been going easy on her in those fights before. If he had kicked her with anything like the force he had there…She flicked those childish thoughts away, an angry worry replacing them. He was definitely holding something back. This time she _would_ find out what it was.

She sprinted across the assault course. It was as unforgiving as she expected, but it hardly slowed her. Just behind, the other candidates snapping out of their stupor joined the fray, but they were quickly left behind. She backflipped across rolling logs, nimbly glided over loose rope and easily evaded the automated paintball turrets with practised finesse. Some of the other candidates were startlingly good, but the pink haired soldier was in another league.

Yet, she could not catch Hope. Seemingly without even trying he ghosted through the course at a phenomenal speed. Despite her best efforts, Lightning could not even keep sight of him. She had never seen anything like it. With barely a sound more than a rush of wind he _flowed_ forwards. The laser targeted automated turrets didn't even register his presence. In complete defiance of his earlier aggression, his movements seemed to be a melancholic dance, as if they reflected his very mood.

After several minutes she came across a large lake. It was at least a kilometre to the other side, and a recently planted sign at the front said that the final part of the course was a long distance swim.

At the shore, a large number of equal sized large rocks had been placed. They were fairly small, likely weighing no more than 15 kilograms. Candidates would have to swim _with_ the rock. She stopped in front of them her eyes narrowing.

The rocks posed little problem for her. She stopped as she saw Hope, his arms crossed in a rare act of contemplative defiance. He gazed at the lapping waves of the lake. His expression was cold. She had never seen him with such an expression. He looked so _lost._

"Hope…" she tried calling out to him. He didn't turn. Instead he grabbed one of the rocks and hefted it on his shoulder.

"What do you say Light? Want to race?"

"We need to talk."

"Yeah," he sighed and looked away briefly. "But there'll be time for that later."

Lightning picked up a rock and held it under her left arm, the other on her hips. She looked behind her. The others candidates were still a few minutes behind. She heard the loud splash of water as Hope dived in to the lake and she spun quickly scowling at the cheating brat. Determined not to give him too much of a head start she leapt in after him.

_()—-(-) _()—-(-)

It was hard to say who won because they kept getting in each others way. Whenever it looked like she was starting to get ahead, Hope would grab her leg and try to pull her back. For her part she didn't cheat; such behaviour was below her. The occasional elbows and kicks that she had administered to him were entirely deserved, in her opinion.

They both climbed onto the wooden pier where the finish line of the assault course was. Hope was slightly faster however and made it first. Upon reaching the line he sat heavily on the wooden planks of the pier, watching Lightning as she approached. She scowled at him before sitting next to him.

"What the hell was that?" she demanded. Hope turned his head.

"What?"

"You cheated."

"No you just suck."

"What was that?"

"Loooser."

Lightning sniffed and looked away, wiping the dripping water from her hair. She was too out of breath to bother arguing. Hope seemed to be suspiciously fine.

"Hope, we need to…"

"There are winners are!" A cheerful voice from behind disrupted her words. She turned to see Rygdea behind her. He had the same irreverent expression he usually did, as he held his arms upwards in a congratulatory gesture. Hope was very quiet. Lightning shifted her eyes to him, and then back to the Colonel. Something was up, but she wasn't sure what-yet.

Over the next 5 minutes, the rest of the candidates started to appear. They kept their distance from Hope, and the whispers of l'cie floated around like the ghost of a bad smell. Surprisingly the officials completely ignored the earlier happenings, and once the first 20 candidates had passed, began to address them.

"Candidates! Welcome! The assessment is now over! Please make your way back to the reception centre to get your results. Candidates from the 10 other assault courses will also be making their way back now."

With that the officials began to clear out. Hope, she noticed had already gotten up and was starting to walk back. She followed him, turning over in her mind, what the events of the day meant.

_()—-(-) _()—-(-)

 _It's the Guardian Corp. The fucking Guardian Corp. Oh shit what am I going to do?_ ** _[You need to tell Lightning. You have no choice now.]_** _But she said…_ ** _[We better hope she was joking. There's no one else to turn to, and things have got a lot more serious if these guys are behind it]_**

 _Should we even be joining them? If they did this, I won't stop until they're all destroyed!_ ** _[Doesn't look like we have much choice right now.]_**

They eventually arrived at the main reception building and fanned into one of the halls, where in the centre, a holographic display showed all the numbers of the candidates who had passed. Hope was not surprised to see his number up there, not after what he had overheard. Lightning evidently was however.

"You passed Hope!"

Hope turned around and looked at her. It was obvious that she was surprised, but she seemed as if she was happy. When she saw her own number her usual cool demeanour started to crack and a smile burst out on her face. She quickly composed herself, but Hope found himself staring. He hadn't realised she was so beautiful. Chastising himself for such thought he looked around. Of the 1000 or so applicants, only 100 or so had passed. He should by all rights not be one of them. The fact that he was filled him with consternation, and he decided he needed to tell Lightning. The thought of her abandoning him was scary enough, but being alone was, at the moment, a possibility he could not countenance.

_()—-(-) _()—-(-)

The taxi ride back was endured in silence. Once the delight at them both passing the assessment had faded, Lightning had once again put her mind to Hope. He had stalled her repeated questions, promising to tell her when they arrived back home, but it was clear she was impatient.

 _tap tap tap tap tap tap_

"Can you stop that!" Hope snapped. Lightning was impatiently tapping her fingers against the armrest. The armrest was mostly soft cloth but at the front, there was a small metal ashtray. Lightning had been tapping her nails on it for the last ten minutes and it was starting to annoy him.

Lightning stopped and just looked out the window. They were over Kankoon now, only minutes from their destination. Hope's heart was beating furiously, and he felt ill at the prospect of telling Lightning what had happened. There was no choice now though. If it was the Guardian Corps behind this, he needed her help.

The taxi slowly descended and Hope realised that he had forgotten to breathe. He turned and saw Lightning looking at him, her expression holding concern. They got out of the taxi-which had landed on the road outside of the house. John the coconut seller was there and he waved hello. The sky had not yet gotten dark, but it would soon. It was around 7 o'clock. He waved back and followed Lightning into the kitchen. He sat down at the kitchen breakfast table and stared intently at the wood.

"Well?"

He looked up and gave Lightning a sheepish grin. She was standing both arms on her hips, giving him a searching gaze. "No lies this time Hope."

"Uh, well you know what I said on that airship about being a half fal'cie? Well I wasn't lying…I was injected with some kind of serum that turned me into a half fal'cie."


	12. What's wrong with white?

Lightning sat, absolutely still. Hope just looked at her.

"What?" she said cooly.

"When I was in the hospital some bitc…woman injected me with something. I don't know what, but it messed me up real bad Light. Now I have a fal'cie stuck…I am half fal'cie."

"What the hell are you saying Hope? I thought you were going to be honest." Lightning held an icy tone.

Hope stood up and faced her. He held his palms out. A hot fireball exploded into existence.

"I'm not messing with you Light."

Lightning looked at the fireball and her mouth opened slightly.

"I'm not messing with you Light," he repeated extinguishing the flame. "I think that the same people who did this to me killed my dad…and I…I think it was the Guardian Corps."

Lightning stood up. She seemed deflated, her usual soldier demeanour completely gone. She seemed…upset.

"Hope…?"

"I'm sorry Light. I'll leave right away. You don't need this right now."

Lightning stepped up to him and slapped him straight across the face. Fury painted itself across her face.

"You wait this long to tell me? What is wrong with you?"

Hope stumbled backwards in shock. She looked beyond angry.

"I tried testing the water…but you said half fal'cie's should be taken and dissected and…"

SLAP

"Shut up!"

Lightning sat down at the table and covered her head with her hands. It was a while before she spoke again.

"You're not going anywhere Hope."

"But…" He was almost in tears. _She couldn't.._

"I will NOT abandon you! How could you be so stupid?"

Hope just looked down.

"Tell me _everything."_

"It started with the terrorist attack. I was in a pretty bad way Light. But when I was out of it, I remember some purple haired woman came, masquerading as a nurse. She injected me with something. I don't know what. But after that everything changed. My injuries starting healing quickly, _too_ fast. I should still be in a hospital Light…"

Lightning took a deep breath.

"Then that's why you're so different."

He didn't answer, but he didn't have to. He collapsed on the floor, sitting cross legged. A few tears that he couldn't stop started trickling down. The awful weight lifted from his shoulders.

"We'll figure this out Hope."

Tears welled in his eyes. He couldn't believe that she was still sticking by him. He had fully expected to have been on the streets by now.

"I made you a promise. That I would look after you. This changes nothing. You hear me Hope? Now, what did you say about the Guardian Corps?"

"It was at the assault course this afternoon. I overheard Rygdea and that General talking to the supervisor. They _knew_ Light."

Hope looked up at her. He knew the burden he was placing on her and he hated it.

"Right." Her tone held finality. The same finality he had once seen long ago, when she had talked about Serah, back on Cocoon. She pointed at him.

"First, Shower. Now."

The tone left no room for disagreement and he shambled upstairs.

_()—-(-) _()—-(-)

 _How dare they?_ Lightning gripped the table tightly, fury pulsing through her. She almost shook with anger at what Hope had told her. If the Guardian Corps were truly responsible, she would…

Her thoughts were shaken by a knock on the door outside. She sighed and opened it, to receive a smiling Snow and Serah. The stupid grin on her brother in law's face made her want to punch him, but she sucked it down and let them in.

"Hey sis! How did it go?" Snow immediately made a beeline for the fridge and started scrummaging for something to eat. Lightning rolled her eyes at him and sat back down at the table.

"We passed."

"Congratulations! I knew you wou… _wait._ We?" Serah looked slightly confused.

"Don't tell me…Hope?" Snow scoffed. "You've got to be kidding me! That kid was accepted?"

There was a heavy silence for a few seconds, and when she didn't offer to break it, Serah spoke up once again.

"We'll lets have a party to celebrate! The guys from Nora are coming down; they should be here in half an hour or so."

"Oh no."

"Don't be like that sis! It'll be fun. We haven't seen them in over six months. We haven't been able to enjoy ourselves for so long, with everyone being so busy. This is the perfect time! Plus it'll be good for Hope. He can't be cooped up in here." Snow called out, head still buried in the fridge. "Can't believe he passed." He muttered very audibly to himself. Lightning rolled her eyes and got up.

"What are you doing? Get away from my fridge." She grabbed and pulled him away, pulling a piece of chocolate from his mouth. She was starting to get annoyed.

"That's my chocolate." She hissed as she turned back to Serah.

"Why do you keep it in the fridge?" Snow sounded like he was giggling, but she wasn't sure. It was equally likely he was choking from a misplaced piece of cocoa. She hoped it was the latter. "You're so weird sis!"

She wheeled angrily towards him, but before she could do anything, Serah interrupted them.

"Hey! Where's Hope?"

Lightning gave a final glare at him before walking back to the table. Chocolate was a luxury nowadays, and it was a rare treat she afforded herself. She had been looking forward to eating it. Now it was ruined. She broke off the part that the moron had slobbered and threw it away.

She knew her awful mood was not his fault, but she couldn't help but vent at him. She took a bite and a deep breath to calm herself down. Part of her wanted to tell everyone what had happened to Hope, but she knew that there was nothing they could do-it would just worry them.

"He's taking a shower. He'll be back down in a little while. We'll come to yours when he's ready."

She didn't much like the idea of a party with Snows buffoon friends, but he was right. Hope needed to be around people right now.

"Great!" Serah said relieved. It had been obvious that she wasn't sure if her sister would accept. If it wasn't for Hope, she probably would not have. Serah pulled her husband by his arm away to the door, before he could do anything more to annoy her sister.

When they were gone, Lightning sat back down and looked outside. She sat quietly eating her chocolate, not sure what was going to happen. She hated the uncertainty.

_()—-(-) _()—-(-)

Hope shuffled uncomfortably on the sofa. Next to him were some of Snow's old friends. There was a pretty girl called Lebreau sitting on his left, a can of beer in her right hand.

The two large sofa's were arranged at right angles to each other, both facing the large holographic TV. It was playing in the background, some kind of variety show with people that he didn't recognise. The volume was low enough that it wasn't really much of a distraction.

He didn't really know any of Snow's friends- he had met them briefly after Cocoon fell, and he was sure that they didn't know him. Serah must have told them to be nice to him; it was as if they were stepping on eggshells in the brief moments they had spoken to him.

He didn't much care for this party. He would have much preferred to be by himself at home. The thought of the Guardian Corps being involved with what happened was making him sick with worry.

 _What happened to those bouts of ecstasy?_ ** _[What bouts?]_** _After waking up-remember?_ ** _[Must have been a side effect of the melding. Temporary.]_** _Sucks. I could really use it right about now._

"So you're really going to that officer academy huh Hope?" It took him a few seconds to realise that Lebreau was speaking to him. He raised an eyebrow at her.

"Luck I suppose."

"Ah don't say that! I think it's pretty awesome." The dark haired girl grinned. Hope flashed a smile back, but it did not meet his eyes. It was hard to feel happy with the situation. Just in front of him, sprawled on the carpeted floor a blue haired man and giant orange haired man were wrestling. He couldn't remember their names-Serah had introduced them to him when he and Lightning had arrived, but they didn't seem to be particularly interested in talking to him. That or they didn't know what to say. He supposed he had a reputation for being sensitive. They might have thought he blamed them for his mum, same as Snow.

Lightning for her part did not seem to be having fun either. She had her arms and legs crossed on the other sofa, and seemed to be lost in thought, her brows slightly furrowed. Hope sighed and got up. He could do with a drink. As he tried to navigate the writhing man-children in front of him to get some water from the kitchen he slipped and fell into their midst. _Ah heck._

"Hope!" Snow called out laughing. "You want to play too? Show him a good time Yuj!"

"Hope's playing?"

Alarmed, Hope tried to get up quickly but was pounced on by the blue haired man-Yuj. The breath was taken from him as Yuj jumped on his back in an attempt to pin him down. Hope growled under his breath. Almost effortlessly he stood up and picked up Yuj one handed by his feet. The man, clearly startled started to squirm. There was silence in the room, all eyes on him. Hope grinned. _They wanna play? Lets play._ ** _[Heck yes!]_**

He felt the orange haired man tackle him to the floor and once again, the breath was taken from him. Gadot- as he remembered- sat on top of him and gave a hearty laugh.

"You're pretty strong kid! Not as strong as me though! Oh come on Light, don't glare like that! We're just playing! Aren't we Hopie!"

Gadot sat proudly, as Hope squirmed. Pushing him off wouldn't be particularly challenging, but more pressing was Yuj, who had taken it upon himself to tickle his feet. He was not proud to admit it, but he was ticklish. Always had been, and having fal'cie enhanced senses just made things much worse. The fact that he had descended into their game seemed to satisfy them that he had no feelings of residual animosity.

"What the shit?" He growled, alarmed as he felt Yuj taking off his socks, and pushed Gadot to the side grabbing the blue haired bastard. Gadot obviously shocked at being shunted aside like a doll was still recovering, and a devilish idea popped into Hopes head.

He picked up Yuj and carrying him bridal style dumped him on the completely unsuspecting Lightning. The gasp of shock and indignation that came from her made it worth it, and he sat on top of a clearly terrified and quivering Yuj, pinning them both down. He saw the others looking shocked at his behaviour, but he was having fun, miserable thoughts having temporarily fled.

He saw Lebreau looking at them goggle eyed before bursting into hysterics with an equally entertained Snow. Lightning was almost spluttering. Screams from Yuj were not long in the making, as he was tortured by the pink haired soldier trapped beneath.

"Please, Oh Shit! Hope please! Let me go!" Yup sounded desperate, and the sight of all his friends laughing, and in the case of Snow, who had fallen to the floor, rolling around with Gadot, did not fill him with confidence. With the exception of him and Lightning, everyone was drinking. Like normal adults. Lightning was the only one who _could_ drink and was not. That did not surprise him in the least.

Finding the position rather comfortable, he had no intention of moving- at least not until Lightning turned her attention away from Yuj and onto him. He felt a sharp elbow in his ribs and as Lightning changed her posture, he found himself slipping off, falling hard onto Snow, who was still lying on the floor. Yuj was unceremoniously kicked off, to reveal a Lightning who was undoubtedly annoyed. Her face was flushed and she fixed them all a glare. She stood up and walked to the kitchen stiffly. Hope just started to laugh, and he was so joined by the others.

Somehow the ice was broken, and Hope found the others paying more attention to him. He decided he kind of liked Snows friends. Now that the cloud of awkwardness had been lifted, they were much more friendly, peppering him with questions.

"You've grown Hope." Gadot laughed clapping him on his back. "What have you been eating? Cause I want some of that!"

"You already eat enough Gadot." A blonde haired man with goggles on his head joked.

"Shut up Maqui. Just cause you're a scrawny stick."

"What?"

"You heard me!"

"Say that one more time!"

"Is that a challenge? It's on!"

"Wait no! I didn't mean…" Gadot grabbed the blonde youth, who was cozily sitting next to Serah and pulled him to the floor.

"No Stop! I didn't mean!" Maqui's words were drowned out as Gadot sat on his head. Gadot's laughter was quickly extinguished and he leapt up in pain, holding his rear.

"Did you just…bite me? I'm gonna…" Gadot growled but was prevented from doing anything, when the kitchen door opened and Lightning re-entered, carrying a glass of water. She looked like her usual self again- cold and aloof.

Hope debated whether he should take her water for himself, but he decided not to push it. He sat up heavily and wary of Yuj and Gadot made his way to kitchen. He grabbed a glass and made his way to the fridge, checking for bottled water. He disliked the chalky taste of tap water, but to his dismay, the fridge was stocked with nothing but beer and liquor. Temptation welled up inside of him, but he quashed it down. That was _not_ a good idea.

He turned around as he heard the door open behind him. It was Snow, Gadot and Yuj. He made his way to the sink and let the water run for a few seconds, holding his fingers underneath to make sure it was cold. Before he could fill his glass however Gadot turned off the tap.

"Hope, I don't know how the hell you passed that exam, but it's incredible. I've never heard any 16 year old able to do that." Snow said. His words were slightly slurred, and it was clear that he was at least slightly merry. His words were however, laced with admiration. They still soured Hope's mood. He had almost forgotten about it.

"Today should be a celebration. How about a drink?"

Hope looked up at them shocked.

"But I'm underage!"

Snow sniggered. "That didn't stop you trying to order Guttermilk and coke right beneath our noses on the airship now did it? I say if you're willing to join the military to fight and die to protect Pulse, then you can have a few drinks right? What do you say?"

He looked at the expectant expressions on the three men, and found himself struggling to answer. Of course he wanted a drink- which teenager at a party wouldn't? But there was one reason why he couldn't.

"I…can't." He managed. Seeing the disappointed looks on their faces, he justified himself.

"Light would kill me!"

"What is she your mum?" Gadot joked. His mirth was cut off with a warning glance from Snow, and Hope gave him a flat stare. It wasn't so much that he was offended, but that Gadot obviously didn't understand what Light would do to him, if she caught him drinking. He closed his eyes for a second.

 ** _[Let's do it!]_** _You're not helping._

"Plus we asked Light. She said yes." Yuj added. He didn't see the panicked expression of the other two and the furious whispers between them as he felt the world black away for an instant. He was tired, and for a second the world swayed.

He got a grip on himself, and opened his eyes.

"Uh what?"

"Yeah. Light, we asked her. She was hesitant, like at first, but we got her around. She's really proud of you too!" Yuj said enthusiastically. The other two looked vaguely uncomfortable, but Hope didn't notice. It didn't seem like something she would say, but he dismissed that thought. There was no way that they would lie about something like that.

"O..Okay." He replied nervously, not quite sure of what to do.

"Right on bro!" Snow said cheerfully, walking past him and into the fridge. He withdrew a large glass bottle of clear liquid and placed it on the kitchen counter.

"How's this?"

"What is it?" Hope asked nervously.

"Silver Ice." Gadot sniggered.

"What's that?"

"Don't tell me…have you been living under a rock your whole life?…Never mind." Snow grabbed five glasses and moved to the kitchen table. Hope took a seat in between Gadot and Yuj, his heart beating fast. Maqui entered the kitchen and silently closed the door behind him. He grabbed a large jug from one of the counters and filled it with ice, bringing it to the table. It all seemed to be a well orchestrated plan, but Hope didn't notice, his eyes focused on the label of the Silver Ice.

It depicted a glossy blue wolf about to pounce, with its claws outstretched and an anthropomorphic grin on its face. The background was a matt white, and he found the contrast alluring. He was shaken out of his thoughts when Maqui slammed the ice filled jug on to the table and Snow poured the entire contents of the bottle into it. He then got up and placed the empty bottle back in the fridge. Alarm bells starting to finally ring in Hope's head.

"Uh…shouldn't we go back inside?" He asked.

"No need. They're having lady talk in there."

"Oh." Hope replied, somewhat satisfied. He had no desire to be involved in any of _that._ The thought of Lightning engaged in _women_ talk piqued his curiosity, but not enough to leave. They all took a seat, and Snow started to pour drinks. Once all the glasses were filled, he sat back and looked at Hope, who was sitting directly opposite.

"I've missed you buddy. It's great to have you back again." Hope was surprised by the big man's words, but appreciated the sentiment. As the others started to drink, he raised the glass to his lips. As the transparent liquid touched his tongue, he felt an acrylic taste. As he swallowed his throat seemed to be on fire. He took another larger gulp, his tongue licking one of the ice cubes that had found its way into his glass. He liked it.

 _It has an interesting taste huh?_ ** _[Hmmm]_**

"How do you like it?" Yuj teased.

"It's nice, thanks." Hope replied as he swirled his half empty glass. The others laughed.

"Not going to lie Hope. I though you'd be coughing and spluttering by now!" Snow grinned.

Hope snorted. "What do you take me for?"

The others grinned.

"So how's things going on the northern border of Krantos?" Snow casually asked the other three.

"Not well." Gadot said grimly as he downed his glass. "The number of those damn beasts just keeps increasing."

"At first it was alright." Mack pushed up his goggles. "The warmechs do a good job, but it's a war of attrition, and we're losing more than we can afford to. It's not as if we can rebuild the damn things."

"Those damn adamantoises. There are few near Krantos, but I hear New Cocoon is swarming with them. They're everywhere up there, and there's precious little that can even slow them down."

"We need some good l'cie. That's what we need." Yuj laughed.

"We tried to take one of those thing on when we were on Pulse, you know, before Cocoon fell. We almost died. It just slammed it's foot and nearly killed all of us." Hope said remembering the time with a slight shudder.

"About the only thing that can take them down are grid missiles, and there are precious few of those. Psicom is really taking a hammering. I never thought I would say it, but I kinda feel sorry for them." Gadot started pouring another glass for himself and Snow who had also finished his drink.

"They're not the same as the old Psicom Gadot. Right now, they're the only ones keeping us safe."

"What about the Guardian Corps?" Hope asked.

"The Corps is for domestic security."

"They're started to be reassigned to the front now though."

"That bad huh?" Snow said in an uncharacteristically soft voice. "I might have to quit the hotel business. The world needs a hero!"

"How's the hotel going?" Mack asked, attempting to steer the conversation into lighter ground. Hope finished the rest of his drink, pursing his lips slightly as his mouth burned. Snow answered as Gadot poured him another glass. This time there was no ice, and the glass was filled with the spirit.

"Great I guess. Sazh is there right now looking after the place. He should be by later. It's kinda…"

"Boring?" Yuj asked.

"It's not what I thought I would be doing."

"Yeah.."

_()—-(-) _()—-(-)

Lightning shifted in her seat. It was only her, Serah and Lebreau. It had been nearly an hour since the boys had snuck into the kitchen.

She wanted to leave and go the Guardian Corps base to train. To forget her worries in a dance of metal. Serah and Lebreau were talking about fashion, and she was almost at her limit. She recrossed her arms and gave a small sigh.

"What do you think Light?" Lebreau posed an unexpected question.

"What?"

"Anyone interesting at work?"

They had obviously moved on from fashion, and if it was possible had found something even worse to talk about. She scowled.

"What do you mean?"

"Got a boyfriend?"

It infuriated her that the silly girl would ask a question to which she already knew the answer.

"It's sis we're talking about here! What do you think?"

The matter of fact tone in Serah's voice annoyed her all the more.

"I don't have time for that." She snapped.

"What about you Lebreau?" Serah giggled, her wine glass empty. It was obviously going to her head.

"His name is James, and he's just so…"

Lightning stood up and made her way to the kitchen.

"Can you bring me some more wine Light?" Serah called out from behind. Lightning rolled her eyes.

"Whatever."

_()—-(-) _()—-(-)

The Silver Ice had long since finished, and the boys had moved on to other drinks. Hope sat with Yuj outside on the beach. He didn't know what Snow and the others were doing. They were all extremely drunk.

Before leaving, he and Yuj had grabbed some more alcohol. Hope was cradling a bottle of Spice- a type of rum, and Yuj had a can of beer. It had long since gotten dark, and the gentle laps of the ocean washed over Hopes outstretched toes.

He took another swig of the rum. The harsh taste of the liquor had long since faded, and it was like water now.

"I wonder what's underneath the water." Yuj drunkenly asked. Hope took another swig of the rum, savouring the taste in his mouth. He twisted the bottle into the sand and waved dramatically across the oceans.

"Monsters. I bet there monsters and shit." Hope slurred.

"Monsters?"

"Like sea adamantoises or something, I don't know."

"Shit. Sounds cool. I'd like to see one." Yuj wrapped his hands around his knees. "When you were l'cie did you see an adamontoise for real?"

"Yeah I saw one. Tried to kill it to become more powerful but it kicked our asses."

"What do you mean more powerful?"

"Everytime time we killed something as l'cie we got more powerful. Unlocked new powers and stuff."

"How?"

"Dunno. But we hoped that by killing one of those things we'd get a major power boost or something…hiccup…I don't know."

"But you couldn't?"

"Nope. No fucking way." Hope felt a slight urge to vomit. "It just stamped its foot and sent us all flying."

"So wait, you could take down Orphan, but not a fucking big turtle dinosaur?"

"Pretty much. Those things are fucked."

Hope was starting to feel really sick. He looked at the rum and felt saliva starting to gather in his mouth-a sure sign that he was about to vomit. He closed his eyes for a few seconds to try and steady himself. He felt the urge to vomit slowly subside and he opened his eyes slowly.

"What were we talking about again?" Hope asked in between deep gulps of air. "Yuj?"

He turned sideways and saw Yuj sprawled on the warm sand beside him, his nearly empty beer dripping into the sand. Hope blinked and went back to looking at the sea.

"Hope!"

It took a few seconds to register, but he thought he heard Lightnings voice.

"Hope!" The voice was furious. _Definitely Light._

Hope giggled. He grabbed his bottle of rum and stumbled up onto his feet. It was dark, but the starlight provided enough illumination for Lightning to see him. He could see her perfectly clearly, and she looked angry. Hope took another swig of rum, as she approached him. He didn't feel even slightly intimidated. She stopped a few feet away from him, and put her hands on her hips.

"Come with me now." It was an order, not a request. Her voice icy. It was clear she expected him to comply.

But she underestimated a drunk Hope. Now standing, he felt the nausea returning. Lightning was wearing a black turtle neck sweater. Hope vomited on it, and on her. There was silence for a few seconds as bits of yellow vomit dripped from her chin.

There were many things Hope could have done, but he chose a particularly foolish course of action.

"Hahahaha!" He giggled and started to sway. There was no sound from Lightning. **_[Serves her right! Remember when she stripped you? She saw you NAKED.]_** Razniel had also been intoxicated. A state that he seemed to enjoy very much.

"Yeah…serves you right!" Hope slurred.

"What?" The voice held a dangerous edge to it. He was sure she was about to maim him.

"But, I'll make it right soldier girl". He giggled again. In a flash he grabbed her and wrestled her to the ground. She cursed and aimed a savage kick to his neck. He barely dodged it and grabbed her leg.

He slowly started to pull her towards the ocean.

"Let's take a bath Light." He cackled.

"You're out of control Hope. Let go of me now!" She shouted. Despite her insistent kicks, which would have incapacitated any normal person several times over, Hope pulled her into the ocean.

"Don't you dare Hope!"

_()—-(-) _()—-(-)

She felt Hope pulling on her leg, slowly dragging her into the water. She cursed and tried to kick free, but he did not let go. She felt the cold water permeate her clothes and she curled her fists into balls of rage. The last time she had been this angry she had decked Snow in front of a crystallised Serah.

She had come into the kitchen only to find several bottles of liquor, a sleeping Maqui and a very drunk Snow and Gadot playing cards. It was obvious that Hope had been drinking. _What was he thinking?_

With a final tug, Lightning was completely submerged in the water. She felt Hope let go, and she sprang onto her feet. Unfortunately being waist deep in water and bagged down by heavy clothes, severely limited her options.

SPLASH

Hope splashed cold water on her face, laughing the whole time. She could _not_ believe this.

"You're fucking dead Hope." It was not often that she swore, but he had really pushed her this time.

"I'm washing the vomit away Light!" Hope laughed, evidently having tremendous fun. He splashed her again. The salt got in her eyes and she blinked as she tried to dispel the stinging.

In a burst of anger she chased after him. It would have been unlikely that she could have caught him-there were several feet of distance separating them, but Hope was so drunk he didn't even try to escape. Not until it was too late.

She locked him in a headlock and ducked his head violently underwater for a few seconds in an attempt to sober him up. Strangely he didn't even resist and when he re-emerged he started to giggle again, as if the whole thing was a giant joke.

"You think this is funny Hope?" She demanded.

"It is now!" Hope laughed and squirmed out of her grasp. Her legs felt lighter for some reason.

Hope laughed again and as he splashed away he held his trophy in the air. He waved her pair of half ripped jeans in the air like a flag, all the while trying to make a getaway.

"You take my clothes, now I take yours! I didn't forget! Revenge is a bicdtee!" Hope's sentence was interrupted as he accidentally swallowed a large amount of sea water.

 _He didn't._

Lightning stood there in shock, watching as the drunken moron splashed in the ocean waving her trousers around, like he had won some big victory. She didn't know what to feel. This was outside any range of parameters that she could have anticipated. Her rage faded and gave way to embarrassment, an almost foreign feeling to her. She felt her cheeks heat up and just watched dumbly as Hope pranced around in the water, occasionally falling over, waving the soaked jeans in the air. The glittery reflection of starlight in the water shifting and changing every time slapped them on the gentle ocean.

"I'm going to show Snow and the others!" Hope made a rush to the shore, but fortunately he ran the wrong way, towards Lightning instead of away from her. He didn't even have his eyes open. He passed by several feet to her left and she finally gave chase. Instead of making a course directly for Snow and Serah's house he paddled diagonally. She caught up to him at the shore line, around twenty metres from the sleeping Yuj. She grabbed his legs and he stumbled falling hard onto the sand. He rolled around until he was on his back before trying to get back up. His feet were still submerged. But she was on him like a flash. She straddled him and grabbed his flailing arms holding it firmly in the sand, her face mere centimetres from him. Her jeans had obviously been lost in the ocean, and it was far too dark to find them now.

She held him down, the water dripping from her face onto his.

"What were you thinking Hope?"

All anger had dissipated and she breathed heavily to get her breath back.

"Get your hair off me Light," Hope tried to move his head away from her dangling pink hair which was scratching his eyeballs. Even with the starlight directly overhead, she could barely see his face. Only his green eyes, like orbs of emerald. She resisted the urge to drop some sand in them.

 _Scratch that._

She momentarily let go of his arms and scooped up some sand dropping it on his face.

"Arggh! No! Not again!"

He did not move his arms however to rub his face. She sat up on him and crossed her arms. He was too drunk to rub the sand out of his eyes?

"Now look here Hope. We're going to go back inside and have a long chat about this tomorrow. Understood?"

"About what?" He said finally moving his hands to his face as he groaned.

"What the hell are you talking about? Look what you did? Who's stupid idea was it to drink alcohol? And spirits Hope?" She demanded rhetorically. He was such an idiot.

"Those liars." He muttered, and then in a louder voice. "Who cares? You're not my mum! Just because you're a cold boring robot who can't ever have fun, doesn't mean I want to be!"

She slapped him on the face.

"What did you say? I am not a robot!" She said hotly.

"The lady doth protest too much." Hope started to giggle again, completely unperturbed by her slap.

So she did it again.

"Cut it out Light! So what I took your stupid jeans, you took all my clothes you hipposhite."

She glared at him.

"Hippo…shit?" She said softly. She felt Hope squirm in alarm underneath her thighs and she tightened her grip.

"No Hippocr…"

His sentence was cut off by a savage punch to the face. She didn't particularly mind using violence against him. Not now that she knew that he was a half fal'cie. The thought brought back all the events of the day and she wearily relaxed her posture and uncrossed her arms.

"What are we going to do Hope?" She said softly under her breath. She didn't mean for him to hear it, but he did.

"You're going to get the hell off me! Your bony ass is digging into my stomach!"

She glared at him again and looked away to her side in annoyance. There was a small hermit crab toddling across the shoreline, enjoying a midnight stroll. She recrossed her arms and sighed. Just as she was preparing to get off him, he opened his mouth again.

"White underwear? Should have known. What the hell other colour would she be wearing?" He obviously muttered to himself but didn't realise that he had been talking loudly. Shocked, she immediately brought her hands down to cover herself. It was so dark that she didn't think he would be able to see her. Heat flooding her face, she, on impulse- which was something she very rarely did, and never since her mother had died, grabbed the hermit crab.

"No no no Light what are going to do?" Hope said in alarm. She found herself smiling a mischievous grin as she felt for the edge of his jeans behind her and lifting both the jeans and his underwear up a tiny bit, stuffed the small hermit crab inside.

"No! What the hell Light!?" Hope yelled. She got off him and watched as he squirmed on the ground. She heard laughter from somewhere, as he continued to roll, desperately trying to undo his trousers, but too drunk to make the deft hand movements required.

It was a long while before she realised it was her own laughter. It had been so long that she had forgotten what it had sounded like.


	13. Beginning of an adventure

_{Sorry for the wait! Needed to plan where the story was going! Warning this is a mature story. Don't say I didn't warn you.}_

"Well this isn't good."

Rishi turned back and looked at Rick, his colleague. He was perhaps understating things a little. The sample of blood that they had collected from the boy was starting to _change._

Rick rubbed his hands through his hair and sat down heavily on a tall stool. They were currently in a lab in the Krantos Officer Academy, which had been given to them for the express purpose of monitoring the half fal'cie. Rick stared at the monitor again and closed his eyes. He reached into his pocket and lit a cigarette, taking a deep inhale.

"No. It isn't."

The blood had started to show some strange coloration, so they had decided to re-examine it. The high powered microscope showed that the blood cells were starting to be torn apart, mutilated by the high power energies that were swirling within them. It had gone from a healthy red to a sickly green. The cells which had at first seemed to be impossibly resilient were finally dying, and dying _on masse._

"He's a time bomb. This could already be happening to him now." Rishi crossed his arms and looked on unhappily. There was simply no way to tell how long he had.

"That might not be true. Maybe the cells only died because they were taken from his body. It happens with normal blood as well."

Rick stood up as he was talking and started to pace around the lab. He turned back around to face Rishi.

"Where is he now?"

"I presume he's back in Kankoon. I heard him and the Sergeant-Farron I think, went back together a few hours ago."

"We need to bring him here for study immediately." Rick fumbled in the pocket of his lab coat and withdrew a small communication device.

"Colonel?"

"Rygdea here."

"We need to speak. As soon as possible. Something has come up."

"Can it wait? I'm having dinner."

"With all due respect sir, no, it cannot. It's about the specimen."

"….On my way."

The last words of Rygdea were slightly annoyed-he didn't like the boy being called a specimen, but truth being told that was exactly what he was. A most _remarkable_ specimen. If he could have his way, the child would be confined to the lab for tests. In all his years he had never seen anything so remarkable.

"What could this mean?" Rick asked, as they waited for the Colonel to arrive. "Do you think he'll start to..uh.. _fall apart_?"

Rishi furrowed his brows. "I don't think so..I mean I _hope_ not, but we have nothing to guide us here. We're completely in the dark."

It was a further 10 minutes or so before the Colonel arrived at the lab. Both of the doctors were nervously pacing around.

"Can we get this over already? It's 9:00! Why couldn't this wait for tomorrow?" Rygdea had his usual carefree expression.

"Well, it's about the spec…boy. We think we have a problem."

"Yeah? What kind? Because I saw him out there today and it was fantastic! That thick wooden wall at the front of Assault Course 8? He did some kind of l'cie kick and completely splintered it! It's _just_ what we need right now." Rygdea said in an excited voice.

Rishi pushed up his glasses. He had, of course heard about the wall-everyone had by now.

"We think that being turned into a half fal'cie is killing him." Rick said bluntly. There was no use waiting anymore. Every second was vital.

The Colonel was silent for a split second, in shock. He had evidently not been expecting such news.

"What?" He asked dumbfounded.

"We don't know why, but we have some guesses. What we can see with the boys blood is merely a slower version of what we can guess would happen to a normal human-that is to say a non l'cie's blood. The energy build up proves too great causing mutation, and rupture. The consequence could be anything from him exploding to him turning into a horrifying mutant. Or both."

Silence again, for a few moments. Rygdea closed his eyes and swore. He grabbed his communicator and signalled the General.

"General. It's an emergency. Those whack-jobs of yours think Hope is dying."

Rygdea sighed. It had seemed like such a great day.

_()—-(-) _()—-(-)

Hope had only needed three hours of sleep before he was fully rested. He awoke at around half past three in his bed. He didn't remember walking there but he did remember what had happened with Lightning on the beach. He smiled to himself as he recalled the sweet taste of vengeance.

His smile was interrupted however by a feeling of nausea, and the world faded into blackness for a few seconds and he felt his legs grow weak. It was the exact same thing that had happened yesterday in the kitchen at Snow's. He didn't know what to make of it, but since it only lasted a few seconds he quickly put it out of his mind.

He walked downstairs quietly and sat heavily on the sofa in front of the TV. So many things had happened yesterday and anxiety returned to him as he remembered what had happened in the Guardian Corps academy. His stomach turned to lead as he contemplated the thought that he was a test subject for the Corps.

If that was true he was sure it was over. Lightning was there, but she was no longer l'cie. If she tried to go against them, it would only take one bullet to bring her down. He didn't think he was brave enough to go it alone. But if he had to he would. He had immediately regretted telling her, but he wouldn't let her die for him.

 ** _[You needed to tell her.]_** _I suppose. Doesn't make me feel better though._ ** _[By the way, is there anymore alcohol in the fridge or cupboards?]_** _Don't think so._ ** _[Damn.]_** _We couldn't have any anyway._ ** _[Why?]_** _It's a social thing. People don't drink during the daytime. Its a rule._ ** _[Why do we need to follow the rules?]_** _I suppose we don't. But we need everyone else to think we do._ ** _[Why?]_**

Hope ignored Razniel, but still made his way to the fridge. There wasn't much food-not that he was hungry, but there _was_ a large watermelon. He hadn't noticed it before. Grinning despite himself he grabbed the watermelon, a delightful idea forming in the back of his mind. Making his way to the back of the house, to where the beach entrance was located, he slipped outside. Due to the early hour the beach was deserted. There were no streetlights here, so everything was pitch black. Even the trickle of light offered up by the stars was blocked by rumbling dark storm clouds. It was perfect. Heavy rain pelted him and he found himself soaked within seconds.

Placing the water melon on the sand, a few metres from the lapping ocean, Hope stepped a good distance back, putting around 20 metres between him and the target-basically the entire width of the beach- he stopped.

 ** _[I think this is a good time to practice our powers.]_**

Hope smiled in agreement. Fierce gales of wind roiled the ocean into a furious rage, but his eyes never left the watermelon. The noise was good, he decided. It would provide cover for the tempest his magic would likely make.

"How about Thundaga?" he whispered to the wind. He held his left arm aloft and imagined lightning.

 **CRACK**

There was a loud tearing sound and Hope fell on his rear as a giant bolt of lightning struck the beach. He had his mouth ajar, blinking repeatedly to try and clear his retinas. The lightning was orders of magnitude more powerful than any spell he had ever cast as a l'cie. Doubt crept into his mind. There was no way he could have possible cast that. It was already a stormy night.

 _That was probably just coincidence._

Razniel stayed quiet. He likely didn't know either.

 _I'll try again._ ** _[Yes.]_**

Hope once again raised his left hand. It was shaking slightly this time, and despite the roar of the wind, he could hear the furious sound of his own heartbeat. He imagined lightning.

Once again a gigantic bolt of purple-blue energy struck the sand with enormous force. This time Hope didn't fall over, but he was still shocked. He hadn't expected it to be _this_ powerful. It was just like a real lightning bolt, the light stretching from the ground to the sky far above.

He took a deep breath and raised both of his hands. He imagined lightning again. This time however he kept the intention in his mind. Two enormous bolts of lightning once again struck, but this time, they did not vanish after a mere moment, but persisted. Hope watched in mute amazement as two pillars of dazzling light melted the sand. He could feel the blasting billows of heat even from where he stood. He moved the pillars of energy to the water and grinned as the already turbulent water squirmed and writhed as if in pain, vomiting steam.

As soon as it had started it stopped and Hope fell to his knees gasping in pain and clutching his breast. Agony sheared him into small pieces as he continued to pant heavily. After a few minutes it subsided and he got shakily to his feet.

 ** _[Out of energy.]_**

Hope stumbled forwards. The sand in front of him, where the continuous stream of lightning had struck, glowed orange. Pools of melted sand had formed. It hissed and screeched under the tyranny of the rain, belching steam and molten sand. Miraculously the watermelon lay undamaged.

 ** _[So much for your aiming.]_** _I'd like to see you try._

Hope buried the lava under piles of wet sand that he scooped up with his hands. Although the attack was powerful, it only had a small area of effect. After a few minutes the evidence was buried and he wearily stumbled back into Lightning's house. He was glad she had heavy curtains, or the bright light would definitely have woken her. Turning the kitchen light on and grabbing a kitchen knife, he placed the watermelon on the table and prepared to carve it up.

_()—-(-) _()—-(-)

It was 6 o'clock by the time Lightning stepped lithely down the stairs. It was the hour she usually awoke, and she didn't make exceptions. She had already planned the entire day. She would go to the base and workout followed by formally handing over her decision to enroll in the academy. Amodar likely had already been notified, but she was required to do it formally. In the next few days details about the academy would start coming in the mail.

Except.

She didn't know what to do. If what Hope had said about the Guardian Corps was true, there was no way she could join. If they had been so base as to really do that to him, then they were no better than the old Psicom had been. She would _not_ work for such an organisation. She sighed and grasped the railing on the stairs in a rare moment of weakness. How could she protect him this time?

She continued downstairs and entered the kitchen only to face an already bubbly Hope who had made a gigantic mess with a watermelon. Bits of red fruity flesh were scattered everywhere. If he noticed then he didn't seem to care, happily burying his face in the disemboweled fruit.

She stood at the edge of the kitchen and put her hands on her hips giving him a cool stare, waiting for him to notice her. It didn't take long.

"Hey Light!" He sounded happy. Chirpy even. It annoyed her. She glared at him and crossed her arms, the events of yesterday still not forgotten.

"Clean this up!"

"Oh right. Sorry!" He grabbed a few paper towels and started wiping. Lightning rolled her eyes and went to make a cup of coffee. She watched him from the corner of her eyes warily. He had proved yesterday that he couldn't be trusted to behave like a normal kid. _When had he turned so wildly unpredictable?_ She didn't like it. As a soldier she preferred orderly and predictable people. If someone was predictable she could deal with them.

"What happened to you Hope?" She blurted impulsively. This was not typical behaviour for her but last night had been simply too shocking and awful. Even the fights between them earlier had paled in comparison to the sheer shamelessness that he had displayed yesterday.

Hope just looked confused.

"Don't even try that Hope!" Lightning almost snarled at his wilful ignorance. As she thought back to yesterday she felt faintly embarrassed and that was _not_ a feeling she was used to. She hated it.

It was obvious that the look of confusion on his face was an act because he hotly retorted, "Don't act so high and mighty! Who was it that put a frikin _crab_ in my _underwear_?"

Lightning's cheeks started to heat but she refused to take the blame. This was not her fault.

"You dragged me into the ocean and ripped off my…ruined my clothes!" She shouted. All semblance of the cool control she usually exhibited had melted away.

"Oh who cares? Are you forgetting that you ripped my own clothes when you assaulted me?" Hope stood up and said back angrily. Unfortunately this was precisely the wrong thing to do to ease the tension.

"That was different!"

"Why?" he demanded.

"I needed to check if you were a l'cie! And since you wouldn't show me…"

"That's because I wasn't a l'cie!"

"Yeah. You were a fal'cie. It's even worse."

Hope was silent for a minute and then he sat back down. He put on a magnanimous expression and smiled slightly.

"Don't be angry Light. I was _helping_ you."

Lightning snorted, but Hope ignored her.

"I was cleaning the vomit off you, remember?"

Lightning suddenly twitched and let out a sound of disgust. It had seemed she had forgotten that. Without saying another word she swivelled and stormed back up the stairs. Likely to the showers. Hope simply started digging back into the watermelon, making sure to use a plate this time. He grabbed the coffee Lightning had made and helped himself to it, taking a loud slurp.

Feeling a bit bored he stood and ruffled through the drawers in the kitchen for a few seconds before he found an old magazine. Grabbing it he sat back down at the table and began reading.

_()—-(-) _()—-(-)

Lightning came down a good half hour later, wearing a rather nasty scowl. It was obvious that she was still angry. Hope noted with interest that she was wearing a rather stylish green long sleeved top and a cream skirt. The smell of soap was rather strong on her, and he heavily suspected that she had scrubbed herself more vigorously than usual.

Hope ignored her icy stare for the moment and focused back on the old magazine. It wasn't particularly interesting to be honest, but it provided a useful distraction.

"Hope." Her voice was unpleasant. He immediately looked up and faced her. She was completely serious.

"Hope we need to talk about what we're going to do."

Hope sat back heavily in his chair and sighed, all his good humour evaporating like a drop of water in the desert.

"What _should_ we do?"

"This fal'cie…connection. What exactly is it?" Lightning pulled up a chair opposite him and crossed her arms, fixing him with her gaze.

"Honestly? It feels like there are two people in my head. There's me and there's the fal'cie. Sometimes we…"

"Two? You can talk to it?" Lightning cut him off.

"Yeah."

"Put it on." She ordered briskly.

"What?"

"I said put it on. I want to ask it some questions." Lightning once again said, rather impatiently. She disliked having to repeat herself.

"Oh…oh okay."

 _She wants to speak to you._ ** _[I know. I'm not deaf.]_** _Please don't mess this up._ ** _[What? Rude!]_** _None of your jokes Razniel. I'm serious. We need her help. Don't antagonise her!_ ** _[Wouldn't dream of it]_**

Hope anxiously surrendered control to Razniel and retreated to the inner mind-space, watching the ensuing drama like it was a movie. Razniel had extremely poor control of the body, but simply sitting and talking was not beyond him.

"I am fal'cie." Razniel rasped, not quite used to speaking with a physical vocal cord.

The words and tone alarmed Lightning who immediately stood up, a worried expression painted on her face. Hope wanted to punch the errant fal'cie. He _knew_ that saying those words like that, in almost exactly the same menacing fashion as Barthandalus would provoke a reaction.

Razniel was taking the piss. Hope couldn't believe it. How could the fool not see the gravity of the situation? And _he_ called Atomus stupid.

The mind-space was very much like a lucid dream, and in this area, the world was a canvas his consciousness could paint on. He created a beach decorated with the orange and purple rays of a setting sun, and fashioning a sofa he helped himself to some sweet popcorn as he watched the show. He prayed that Razniel was going to behave himself, but from such a detached position the problems that they faced seemed so trivial. No wonder Razniel was so irreverent. The earlier seriousness of the situation was already starting to fade in his eyes.

"Who are you?" Lightning asked viciously. "What are you doing to Hope?" There was real venom in her voice that absolutely showed the disdain that she had for his kind. Fortunately, Razniel was not exactly an adept at human social interaction, and that fact completely passed him by.

"My name is Razniel."

"You didn't answer my second question?"

"I'm not doing anything to Hope."

"I want you to leave his body. Now."

"That sounds like an excellent idea! How do I do that?"

Lightning was taken a bit aback. She had not expected such a response.

"You possessed him, so unpossess him!" She was starting to get angry. She would already have attacked the creature, were it not residing in her charge's body.

"I didn't _possess_ him you scatterbrained harlot. I was _injected_ into him. What you think I _want_ to be here? Trapped in a mortal body, instead of free, like all fal'cie should be? What an odious toad you are."

Razniel was interrupted by a savage uppercut. He was knocked off his chair and came crashing to the floor.

"Oooh!" Hope cried out throwing some popcorn into the air. He leaned forwards eagerly anticipating what was going to come next. In the mind-space he was so detached from his body that he couldn't even feel the pain. It was more like a notification. Digging his toes into the warm sand he stuffed more popcorn into his mouth.

 ** _[She hit me Hope! I don't want to do this anymore! I want to come back!]_** _Nope. If you behave she won't hurt you._

Razniel staggered to his feet and gave the pink haired soldier a furious glare. He cautiously returned to his chair and sat back down. Lightning only raised an eyebrow.

"Who injected you into him?"

"I don't know."

"You don't know?"

'I was inside a syringe. How was I supposed to know?"

"I don't believe you."

"Oh go fuck yourself." Razniel flared losing his temper at the soldier. Lightning once again curled up her fist. But he was not stupid. As soon as he had uttered the words, he regretted them. He also knew that she would attack him. So he fled. Shrieking, he stumbled out of the chair and tried to escape. To his chagrin, in the background he heard hoots of laughter from Hope.

But he could barely control the body and he felt himself immediately tackled to the ground. He lay sprawled painfully on his stomach and groaned as he felt the woman above dig her knees into his back as she sat on top of him.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! But I really don't know!"

"How does a fal'cie end up in a syringe?"

"I don't remember! I…"

Lightning didn't buy it and applied more pressure to his back. Razniel writhed under her but she didn't let up.

"I honestly don't remember! Just get off me! You're hurting Hope too!"

With that reminder Lightning calmly sprang off of him and allowed Razniel to get to his feet. Understanding that beyond it's foul tongue it was obviously not a threat, she looked upon it with a slight curiosity.

"Tell me what do you know of Barthandalus?"

"What about him?"

"So you know him?" Lightning's tone sharpened.

"Yeah, so?"

"He tried to kill us. Not just us everyone." Lightning swept her left arm to the side as she made her point. Distrust was etched into every line in her face.

"He was always a bit fanatical. I thought he was rather goofy. I haven't seen him in a long, _long_ time though."

Lightning put her hands on her hips. She didn't know what to make of the being in front of her. It's attitude was so disarming that it was difficult to imagine it as a threat.

"You're behind the changes to Hope aren't you?" Lightning suddenly said.

"Changes?"

"He used to be a good kid. Now he's a brat." Lightning snorted, then as a nasty idea popped into her head, her expression darkened. "Were you the one who made him drink yesterday?"

Her voice was dangerous.

"No. I have no interest in human comforts." Razniel said with an admirably straight face. Lightning looked at him suspiciously.

Before she could press on with her interrogation, she was interrupted by the sound of knocking on the door outside. There were a few people outside, on the beach. With a start Razniel realised that they were from the Guardian Corps, and in a panic both he and Hope switched places.

 ** _[Back to you partner.]_**

Hope felt his heart pounding as he saw Rygdea and that General outside the door. Lightning immediately went for her gunblade- which was on the kitchen counter and propped it against the wall, so that it would be close by.

"Bring Hope back."

"I'm here already."

Lightning nodded before opening the door slowly allowing the bright morning sun to stream into the house.

"Ah Farron! What a wonderful surprise!" Rygdea extended his hands in mock celebration. He was even more annoying than she remembered.

"Save it. You have some explaining to do. If I don't like what I hear…"

"No need for threats! And, well, explaining is precisely the reason we've come!" Rygdea's cheerful demeanour was starting to get on her nerves. She knew it was an act, but the facade made it almost impossible to figure out what he was really thinking. The General was behind him. Behind her were two scrawny men. _Scientists._ One had light brown skin and and overly long hair, whilst the other was of a lighter complexion with thick glasses. They both looked rather comical. She recalled seeing them in the hospital, back in New Cocoon, and with that thought her expression darkened.

Hope, taking note of this, starting to sweat. _Why would they bring doctors?_ As they entered the kitchen, Hope stood up nervously.

"You can relax. I know what you are thinking. The Guardian Corps is not behind what happened to Estheim." The General said to assuage any fears. 'I am Riko Tuovar, and this is…"

"I know who you are." Lightning interrupted. "Why are you here?"

"To talk." Rygdea said genially. "Given the circumstances, that makes sense, you agree?"

Lightning gave a curt nod and gestured to the table.

"What? No tea?" Rygdea joked. Lightning ignored him, and he sheepishly sat. Hope sat down too, noting that the doctors -they must be doctors, who else would wear lab coats- remained standing in the corner of the room.

Lightning remained standing, in a position close to her gunblade. She clearly hadn't ruled anything out.

"As I said before, the Corps has nothing to do with your current condition Estheim."

"With all due respect General, I'm not sure I believe you. I overheard a little chat of yours at the assault course yesterday."

"You did, did you? You must have heard me tell the instructor to pass you."

Hope nodded slowly.

"So from that you assumed that we were responsible? Understandable. But wrong."

"So then who is?" Lightning asked in a low, dangerous tone. The General did not answer but instead gestured to one of the men behind her.

"Rishi!"

"Ah! Yes Ma'am?"

"Play the video."

Rishi came closer to the table and fiddled with a device on his wrist for a few seconds. A large hologram appeared over the round table and after a few more seconds of adjustment it became clear.

The hologram showed Hope lying in the hospital bed.

"This was taken from one of the surveillance cameras in the hospital ward." The man needlessly explained. "The normal cameras were all wiped remotely. We were lucky that one of the new holographic CCHV prototypes was being used. I don't think they knew about it."

The video showed a purple haired woman enter the ward. Hope felt his stomach lurch as he recalled the encounter. The crystal clear image showed her as extraordinarily beautiful, with long flowing hair. The expression on her face however marred that, imbuing her with a sinister aura. This was not a nice person.

"Who is that?" Lightning demanded.

"A terrorist." The General said simply. "Goes by the name Irl, but she used to be in the Corps-under Cid Raines, before he turned traitor. Now she works for him. A nasty piece of work if ever there was one. Not above human experimentation."

"Raines." Hope groaned. He knew that Raines led a Black Faction- a rogue organisation. He also knew that no one knew where their organisation was. The current government didn't have the resources to track down all the Black Factions-and keep everyone safe from the horrors of Pulse. If Raines was behind this, there wasn't much chance of getting revenge. He felt rage bubble inside of him.

"They murdered my father!" Hope stood up suddenly. "Why?"

"We're not sure if they did it on purpose, but at the very least they wanted you in that hospital. Your father may have been just part of the collateral damage. It's not important anyway. The question is why they did it to you."

Hearing the way the General casually spoke of the death of his father made Hope's temper flare. Before he lost control however, he took a deep breath and sat back down.

 ** _[Let's swap. You can barely control yourself. I'll not give us away.]_** _OK._

It was a testament to Hope's crumbling will that he accepted the arrangement immediately.

"It's obvious. I was a l'cie." Razniel said. The rasping in his voice had lessened considerably. He was a fast learner. Lightning noticed the change in demeanour immediately and narrowed her eyes. She remained quiet however, merely watching. She had relaxed considerably since learning that her Corps were not responsible. The General and Rygdea had noticed the change in Hopes voice, but it was small and they attributed it to sudden emotion from the mention of his father.

"What has that got to do with anything?" Rygdea asked. "And if that was the case why did they choose you?"

"You think I know?" Razniel demanded. "Everyone else was but in Kankoon, so perhaps it was harder to get to them."

The General nodded slightly before giving the Colonel a side glance.

"Well be that as it may, your…transformation occurred at a most fortuitous time. The borders are not holding." She said bluntly, getting straight to the point. "We're suffering more casualties than we can easily replace. New Cocoon is in danger of being overrun. Possibly within the year."

Razniel looked at her, not really understanding, but far away he felt shock from Hope. Lightning herself suddenly looked unsure of herself. It was something that Razniel relished seeing.

"You can't beat back a few beasts?" He scoffed. The repugnant Pulsian wildlife were nothing to a fal'cie.

"No we can't. The weapons from Cocoon are simply too few and too underpowered. As you may be aware we have at the moment almost _no_ weapons factories. Not a single one. None of the Packages that have been excavated have been of the martial type. Oh, they can build the most grand cities, but the fact is we need weapons. And lots of them."

"So? You should stop being so reliant on these Ancients. If they were so great they would still be here. Instead of relying on magical treasure from the ground, why not build our own factories."

Taken aback slightly by the boy's cocky tone, the two officers looked at one another.

"Well, we would, if we could. The truth is, we can't really build anything by ourselves anymore. We certainly didn't have to build much on Cocoon. What few engineers we had are either dead or missing. There's not enough time anyway. We need the weapons as soon as possible."

"We've gone from being the slaves of the fal'cie to the slaves of dead people." Lightning said in disgust.

 _Ask them what all of this has to do with us! Why did she say it was fortuitous?_

"Am I missing something here? What does all of this have to do with me?"

"Don't play coy boy." The General smirked. It wasn't entirely friendly. "We saw what you did at the assault course."

"How did you know? You knew I was part fal'cie but how? Those tapes couldn't have given you that."

"Thank the two doctors here. Rishi and Rick. They decided to do a blood test when they saw the unnatural rate at which you were healing. They did some investigation and came to the conclusion."

"A pretty wild speculation." Lightning retorted.

"Yes. None of us were _really_ sure. At least not until now."

"And why is that?" Razniel asked.

"Because you just confirmed it! I admit I had the suspicion that it was a reemergence of your l'cie powers. And it's great news! With the power of a fal'cie, who knows what we can achieve? But I do have a question. What's it like? Can you…communicate with the fal'cie?"

"The fal'cie's personality seems to have been destroyed when it was transformed into whatever that was in the syringe. Nothing but the power remains." Razniel replied, the top of his lip curling into a smirk. This seemed to be exactly what the General wanted to hear and she clapped her hands in delight.

"Well time is running short." The General for some reason exchanged a glance with the two doctors behind her. "The real reason we came here is to give you a mission."

"A mission?" Razniel asked, slightly curious.

"It shouldn't take you that long. The new term at the academy starts in exactly 3 months. You should be back long before then." Rygdea said with a smile. There was something behind his eyes that Razniel couldn't quite figure out. It looked like discomfort.

 ** _[What do you think Hope?]_** _He's hiding something._

"You're hiding something!" Razniel announced. _You weren't meant to say that! How could you say it so directly? You need to be more subtle._

Razniel ignored his partner and looked imperiously in the eyes of the Colonel. The fool dared to lie to a fal'cie.

"We think we've found a weapons cache from the Ancients. A weapon Package to be more precise. If we're right then that means we can start to begin the industrial production of armaments. We have a chance of saving the three cities!" Rygdea said with a voice with heavy emotion.

"Why send Hope? Send some soldiers. I volunteer." Lightning immediately came to Hope's rescue. There was no way she could let him go on such a dangerous mission, especially alone. He may be half fal'cie, but she knew that in no way could he fully control his powers.

"Yes of course Farron. You'll be going with him." The General said calmly. "We can't just send soldiers. We've known about the cache for a while, but its about 700 miles South of here, well into the Uncharted Lands. Psicom picked it up on the tracker a while back. It would take a massive expedition to get there, something we frankly cannot afford. But you two? You might have a chance."

"This is a suicide mission! 700 hundred miles into the Uncharted Lands?" Lightning said hotly.

"You may be right. It certainly isn't safe now is it?" The General said tartly. But if you fail, well, we'll all die sooner or later anyway. As I said, we can't hold out much longer."

"Just send out some aircraft. Some of them could cover the 700 miles in a few hours." Razniel said.

"We've tried. They get ripped apart by Wyverns and worse." Rygdea sighed. "The sound of the engines draws them like flies."

"…" Razniel didn't know what to say, and Hope was no help either.

"By the way, how have you been feeling lately?" The General asked. "Anything strange?"

"I've been getting bouts of weariness recently, I must admit." Razniel sighed.

"Here is something for you to take. It should make you feel better." The General gestured to the doctor with glasses who Razniel noticed was carrying a small hard-cased bag. He took out a small syringe filled with a bright green liquid and placed it on the table.

"If you start to feel unwell take this. It has been specially designed to lessen the pain of your…forced joining."

"Ah…yes." Razniel grabbed the syringe. The needle was covered in a plastic protective sheath.

"Farron!" The General barked. Lightning stood at attention. "You're leaving within the hour. Get the bags packed."

Surprise dotted the young soldiers face for a split second, but it was quickly hidden and she simply nodded.

"May I tell the others about this?" Razniel asked, with prodding from Hope.

"Others?"

"The other l'cie. They live next door."

"Of course. Be quick."

Razniel and Hope swapped places and Hope got up and made his way to the door, his mind a mess. So much had happened so quickly. He absolutely didn't want to go to the Uncharted Lands, but the tone of the General made it clear that he had no choice. He had after all just joined the Guardian Corps.

He made his way to Snow and Serah's house, cursing his rotten luck. He trudged through the sand, noticing in the corner of his eye a large and conspicuous mound. It was the sand he had piled up only hours ago to cover the evidence of his lightning magic.

"Ah Serah!" Hope called out. Serah was by the door looking at him.

"Hope! What's going on? Why are the Guardian Corps here?"

"Ah…that." Hope scrunched up his face and scratched his scalp. "I think I better explain…"

They entered the house and were joined a few minutes later by Lightning. Hope looked at her suspiciously. 1400 hundred miles was a long distance, and he doubted that she could have packed the bags so quickly. To his consternation she looked _cheerful_. It was a strange look for the usually sombre soldier.

"What's going on?" Serah asked uncertainly as she took a sip of a mug of recently brewed coffee.

"We're leaving." Hope said.

"For the academy." Lightning added. Hope gave her a sideways glance and immediately understood. Telling her sister she was going hundreds of miles into the Uncharted Lands was not a good move.

"Already? I thought we had a little more time." Serah sighed, looking down into her drink.

"Usually we do, but they're bringing us in early for some reason." Hope hated lying, but the alternative would just create pointless worrying."

"Where's Snow?"

"He's still sleeping. It's only 7:00!" Serah laughed. "The others are all here as well."

"I noticed." Lightning said dryly. She had stepped over Yuj who was sprawled in the corner of the kitchen, snoring loudly.

"We'll be back in a few months." Lightning said in an almost consoling voice.

"Yeah." Hope smiled a smile that did not quite reach his eyes.

 _Oh we'll be back alright. Just probably in a bodybag._

_()—-(-) _()—-(-)

Rygdar sighed and crossed his arms. Hope and Farron had gone to her sisters house to say goodbye. He stood waiting on the beach outside with the General. Behind him the two doctors were waiting.

"We should send a contingent of soldiers with them. Sending them alone is stupid."

"Your concerns are noted Colonel."

"General, he may have these powers, but there is no way he knows how to fully use them. I'm not saying take a battalion, but some extra hands can't hurt!"

"Anyone else we send with them will just die. The Uncharted Lands are just that-uncharted. No one wants to go there. It'd be cruel. Especially not in the Corps! It's a domestic peacekeeping force Rygdea! There might be some in Psicom who would join, but there is no Psicom contingent here. All the Psicom soldiers are at the various fronts. The key here is stealth. The less people the better."

"And how is his fal'cie powers going to help with stealth? You saw him at the assault course. He _smashed_ that wall!"

"He's going to have to figure that out." General Riko said bluntly. "But there's another reason I don't want to send anyone with them. I don't want any unnecessary attention on them. If those Black Faction realise what we're doing…it'll be trouble. They'll certainly try and get to the cache first."

Rygdea was silent for a while. Everything just seemed so desperate.

"But we have a half fal'cie. That has to count for something right?"

"Ahem. Actually the Black Faction under Raines was the one to inoculate him so…" Rishi opened his unwanted mouth, snatching the last of the Colonel's hope.

"What if the cache is too big? The big manufacturing units could never be carried by hand."

The General smiled and pointed to a black dot in the distance. It was slowly getting bigger.

"We have a plan for that. They can't take an aircraft. Apart from not knowing how to fly it, it would draw those wyverns. An all terrain ground vehicle though? One that runs on solar energy and is as quiet as a mouse?"

Rygdea shielded his eyes against the rising sun. A _large_ hovercopter was carrying a _very large_ ground vehicle. It was still some distance away.

"Shit me. That's a big vehicle."

_()—-(-) _()—-(-)

"Say what?" Sazh raised his eyebrows and crossed his arms.

"We're leaving Sazh." Hope said, a bit annoyed. The man flatly refused to believe he had been accepted into the academy.

"Now why would an academy for _officers_ accept a smarting 16 year old? Don't you need to be 18 to even try?"

"Yeah but they relaxed that restriction months ago. Look outside Sazh-they've come for me. If I hadn't been accepted why would they come?"

"World's gone fool mad, thats what's happening." Sazh muttered. "Oi Dajh! Get your butt down here! Say goodbye!"

There was a thud on the floor above and Dajh rushed down the stairs.

"You're leaving already?"

Seeing the sad expression on the child, Hope smiled and ruffled his hair.

"Only for a little while. We just need to get settled in at the school. Once we've done that we'll be back!"

"Promise?"

"Promise."

_()—-(-) _()—-(-)

They left the house and trudged through the sand. Lightning went back to the house to grab the bags, but Hope kept walking. The General and Colonel were standing in the middle of the beach. Rygdea was covering his eyes and looking into the sky. Hope followed his gaze and was taken aback for a moment. Using his superior vision, he could clearly see the enormous hovercopter in the distance. It was carrying a large ground vehicle of some kind, attached by way of four thick metal chains.

The vehicle had 6 large wheels, three on each side. It was two stories high and at the top in the middle was a gigantic machine gun turret. It was thickly reinforced with armour and what looked like…solar panels?

Hope shook his head slightly.

 _What have we let ourselves in for?_

 ** _[An adventure!]_**

Hope grinned in spite of himself. He was excited.

"Ah Hope!" Rygdea exclaimed as he drew near. The sound of the hovercopter was quite audible now. It would be on them in a few minutes.

"What is that?"

"Its a Mark VI ATV. Powered by the Sun. It's the only one left from Cocoon." Rygdea grinned. "What, you didn't think you'd be walking."

Hope didn't mention that that was exactly what he had thought.

 ** _[Hey, ask him what that green syringe was all about.]_**

"Why did you guys give me that syringe?"

Rygdea looked at the General and she gave a slight shake of the head.

"It's not something we have time to talk about now. Just know that it's a healing serum. If you get injured or sick, it will make you better. Only you though. Don't try and give it to the soldier."

Hope nodded slowly, a million thoughts going through his mind. None of them seemed good. That look between the Colonel and the General…they were hiding something.

"And what about Raines? If I do this, you have to promise that you'll help me get him."

"If you bring back the cache, that'll give us breathing room. It'll allow us to much back the Pulsian wildlife and free troops to deal with him."

Hope nodded and looked up in the sky again. The hovercopter was practically overhead. It was starting to get difficult to talk.

"Isn't this a bit conspicuous? Everyone and their mother will know that we're leaving!"

"Knowing that you're leaving isn't a problem. Knowing why you're going is. Once you leave the territories, no one will follow you. Not unless they have a very good reason."

_()—-(-) _()—-(-)

Lightning scooped up the bags that she had packed. She checked them again to make sure. She didn't know on what vehicle they were going to travel-or even if they were going on foot. She had packed for every contingency.

She didn't know what to feel. On the one hand she was leaving Serah, Snow and Sazh, but on the other, she was finally free. Leaving Kankoon was something that she had wanted to do for months. As soon as she realised that her sister had settled and was safe, she knew that it was time to go.

Pulling off her green top and skirt she fished for her Guardian Corps uniform and strapped her gunblade in its holster. In the distance she could hear a loud rumbling sound and she peeked out the window, instinctively taking cover. It was a large hovercopter, only a few hundred metres away.

 _I guess that's our vehicle._

She was still somewhat in shock over Hope being a half fal'cie- she had only found out yesterday, and everything had changed so quickly. She had never expected him to pass, and had been fully prepared to defer her entry for two years until he was 18.

But he had passed.

And he had gotten drunk.

And he had dragged her into the ocean. Her blood still boiled over that. He still needed to pay.

She filed all our concerns out of her mind for the moment, just as she had been trained.

Except one.

Hope.

He had changed so much from the kid she had known. She looked at him through the window. He was standing on the beach talking to Rygdea. He already looked like a man, and not just the changes in his body and face, but his posture and attitude. It was hard to tell if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

Still, she felt excited. A rare emotion. An adventure, and with Hope. It would be like old times. Hefting the bags on the shoulder she walked out of her room and down the stairs.

_()—-(-) _()—-(-)

 **Location: [[Eastern Reru, 381 miles East of Kankoon. Psicom Alpha Outpost 2. Borderlands.]]**

John looked up at the sky. It was raining. Again.

"Will this rain ever stop? God damn!"

"Pain in the ass rain."

John grinned and looked at his companion. A tall Guardian Corps member by the name of Zak. The GC had just recently been sent to the front line and it felt good to have the extra reinforcements.

The Alpha Outpost 2 was the largest military outpost defending Reru. It was the outermost defence. A good 40% of the entire Reru division was held here-over 30,000 soldiers. Thunder crackled in the distance. The ground had long since turned into a quagmire of mud and John groaned as he examined his boots. He'd have to clean them again. He could feel the damp of his socks and the horrible squelch every time he took a step.

They were sitting near a campfire, just the two of them. Other soldiers, milled around nearby. The main base was just behind them, the heavy fence and tall buildings imposingly asserting their dominance over nature. The area in front of the base was littered with large tents. The preparations for a large offensive was being made to take back Alpha Outpost 1, the furthest one. It had been overrun some months ago.

"You're from Kankoon huh?" John asked pulling off a boot.

"Yeah! I served under Commander Amodar."

"I guess Krantos is pretty safe huh?"

"Bordered by the ocean and a desert? I'd say so. It's a pretty quiet region. I guess that's why we were sent here."

John finally managed to pull off the boot and with a satisfied smile reached fro his damp socks. He pulled it off and let his feet bask in the cool rain shower. The rain was heavy, but the fires were not natural, instead coming from portable stoves. They would not go out.

"Well, it can get rough here, but the worst is behind us. Nothing is coming through this base. Just look at it!" John gestured around him.

"Yeah. My ma was pretty worried when she heard that I was being sent to the front, but I've managed to convince her it's nothing to be too worried about. I hear New Cocoon has it real bad though."

There was a roar in the distance. Both men ignored it.

"Yeah. Once we've secured Alpha Outpost 1, I'm going to request reallocation to the North. They could do with some badasses, ha!"

Zak grinned at his companions bravado. He looked up at the sky and smiled. The clouds, almost black with rain swirled and slithered in the sky illuminated by brief flashes of lightning.

A heavy wind blew through.

A rustle in the trees.

Another roar. This time closer.

John turned his head slowly. The edge of the cleared forest was only a few hundred metres away. _What was that sound?_

"Did you hear that? Pity the tracking devices are shit useless here. Otherwise we could know what's out there."

"Tracking devices don't work?"

"Well they do, but the forest is always swarming with creatures, it's not much use."

There was a sudden commotion nearby and several of the soldiers issued rough commands. John slipped his boots on quickly and stood up picking his weapon up. Zak, clearly nervous also stood, cradling his assault rifle.

"Wh..what's wrong?"

"Don't know yet." John said as he looked around wildly. The roars were close now. Real close.

And then he saw it. Emerging from the undergrowth, small dog like creatures. Their jaws snapping, foamy and with eyes utterly mad. Thousands of them.

"To arms!" he cried, taking cover behind the log Zak had been sitting on. He managed to fire a few rounds at the creatures before they were on him. Drawing his knife he engaged them in hand to hand combat.

"Come on then! Come on you fuckers!" John roared as one leapt up on him, jaws snapping.

He plunged the knife into its belly, hot blood spurting over his face and chest as they both tumbled into the wet mud together. He got up quickly and kicked it off him before unleashing a few rounds into its head. He spat on it before pulling the knife out and hurling it at a beast that was giving Zak some trouble.

The beasts had come suddenly, but the soldiers were not unprepared. They formed battle lines, and as the fighting raged on the sound of aircraft from the base behind them started to whir, rushing to provide support.

The fight lasted a few minutes but the result was clear. The dog like creatures were no real threat for a trained military force. Soldiers rushed out of the base to provide back up and they augmented the soldiers who had just been fighting.

On one side Alpha Outpost 2 was surrounded by forest. That was the side that John was facing, gun pointing squarely at it. But on the other sides there was open canyon and grass plains. Nothing could sneak up on them that way. Thus the main attention was placed on the forest.

"Holy shit!" Zak exclaimed, wiping some blood off his cheeks. "I didn't know that the monsters were so aggressive!"

John felt unease ripple through his belly and he spared a glance at Zak.

"They usually aren't. Did you see the eyes of those creatures? They looked…infected."

"With what?"

"…"

There was a slight shudder and the forest started to tremble.

"Positions align. Prepare for contact!" An officers voice bellowed, transmitting through their personal comm device. John and Zak quickly abandoned the small fire and made their way to the rest of the soldiers, thousands of them forming into battle positions. All their guns aimed at the dark forest.

But something was wrong. _Why was the ground shaking?_

John looked at the forest again. The trees were packed close together. Too close for anything to be moving with enough speed to create such vibrations. Unless…

 _Oh no._

With a savage crack the ground itself opened itself up. Giant rents in the ground bloomed as hundreds of skeletal arachnids poured onto the battlefield. These were so unlike anything found on the steppes that the soldiers were at a complete loss. The battle formation was completely useless and the soldiers found themselves mired in a frenzied fight for survival.

The arachnids were not spiders, having only 6 legs, and covered in hard black carapace. They had needle teeth and each of their legs was sharp, like a knife. They waded through the soldiers like a hot knife through butter.

And from the forest, behemoths emerged. Silently and slowly. And from the skies wyverns broke through the clouds.

"Fuck!" John whirled as one of the arachnids impaled Zak. The young GC gave a gurgled scream as the hooked leg sliced open his belly littering the mud with his intestines. John aimed his gun at the creature, but against such carapace armour it was useless. He watched in horror as the arachnid bent low and started _scooping_ Zaks organs out like a spoon through a steak pie. His stomach popped like a balloon under those needle like teeth, spilling gastric juices everywhere. It smiled. A ghastly grin. The young lad continued howling, weaker and weaker until his face was crushed under the legs of another arachnid, this one sizing up John.

John sank to his knees, terror and rage filling him. _What was this?_ _Why would the beasts work together? What was driving them into such a mindless frenzy?_ The battlefield was far quite now, there were few sounds of gunfire. Few sounds of resistance. The arachnids were everywhere. Overhead circled hundreds of blue and gold wyverns and they had destroyed all the aircraft. _We had hundreds. That was almost our entire fleet._ John looked listlessly on as he felt one of the arachnids impale him and bring him close to it's mouth. He didn't even scream.


	14. Friction

Friction

The hovercopter slowly descended until the vehicle was a few meters from the ground. Then with a sudden _clang!_ the locks were released and it fell onto the beach, whirling up a large cloud of sand.

The vehicle had two floors, and was over 10 metres in height. Rygdea walked up to it and pulled on one of the handles on a side door. Lightning watched with interest as it opened. The door was heavily armoured, at least 30 cm thick with a small circular port hole in the middle. It had 6 bulky hinges.

This was practically a tank.

Lightning stepped inside and found herself in a large space. In the middle of the 'room' was a large rectangular table. It did not have any legs but rather resembled a large block of metal. There were vents on the side billowing in cool air. The interior of the vehicle was dark. The floor was composed of dark metal tiles and the walls were heavily littered with weapons and screen displays. At the moment they were all powered down.

"This is the Meeting Room." Rygdea said as he led them through it. Hope whistled. Past the Meeting Room was the cockpit. It held a bewildering number of buttons and displays.

"This is the cockpit."

"Why is it called the cockpit? It doesn't fly." Hope asked curiously. Even the 'cockpit' was oversized, with easily enough space for 3 people to sit. Three panes of gigantic transparent panes-he hesitated to call it glass for it didn't resemble it in the slightest- dominated the front of the cockpit. Interestingly there was no steering wheel, instead 2 joysticks.

"I don't know what the official name is. It kinda looks like a cockpit no?"

Lightning looked at it unimpressed.

"You expect us to drive this thing? I'm not qualified."

"It's not as hard as it looks. You'll have to learn as you go along I'm afraid." The General smiled. "In any case I want you to leave asap. You can explore the rest of the Mark VI in your own time."

The General led everyone back to the Meeting Room and stopped at the large block of metal that was in the exact centre. She flipped a small switch and the block powered up. A faint light started to shine from the surface and soon a map appeared.

"This is a tactical display." She explained. "We are here."

A small white blip depicted their current position. Swiping her hand the geological features of the map swirled by. Soon the map became blank and after a few seconds a yellow blip could be seen.

"This is where we believe the cache is."

Just as she was about to say something else, a loud beeping noise from her comm device interrupted them. Her face became increasingly ugly the longer she held it to her ear.

After a few minutes her expression was sickly. She hung up and returned the device to her side.

"Colonel."

"Yes Ma'am?" Rygdea heard the ice in her tone and immediately answered respectfully.

"Reru Alpha Outpost 2 has been overrun."

Rygdea paled not knowing what to say. That was the most heavily fortified defensive locale in the entire Three Cities.

"What?" Lightning said hotly. Many of her comrades had been sent to Reru.

"Fuck."

The Colonel cringed inwardly. General Riko Tuovar was known for her excellent self control. He had never seen her lose her composure. That she had now spoke volumes to the seriousness of the situation.

"Leave. Now." The General ordered, still looking sick. "I trust that you know realise the stakes we're playing for. The vehicle is fully stocked with supplies. It won't last so you'll have to scavenge."

Lightning nodded faintly. She hadn't realised things were so bad. _How could they be?_

"Permission to speak freely?"

"What is it soldier?"

"I don't understand. Pulsian wildlife is impressive, but I find it hard to believe that they could overwhelm an outpost as heavily fortified as Alpha 2."

Hope nodded in agreement. He had spent quite a while on the Steppes when they were l'cie. It was full of dangerous monsters, but there was nothing _that_ bad. The adamantoises were bad, but they were largely docile as long as you stayed clear of them. He couldn't think of any animal that would willingly throw themselves at such a large settlement.

"I don't either Farron. They never used to be this bad. But recently, it's as if they're coordinated. Wyverns flood the sky, Behemoths and worse attack from the ground and there are rumours of…nightmarish things that attack from underneath…"

The General sighed.

"It's almost as if they were feral. But that's impossible." Rygdea said.

At those words Razniel stirred slightly.

 ** _[That couldn't be.]_** _What?_ ** _[It sounds like the first stage of the Sickness.]_** _What?_ ** _[I told you about it on the airship. It's why Cocoon was created and it's what destroyed the Ancients. It decimated the fal'cie and scattered the old Gods.]_** _Ah. But you said that the seal wouldn't open for thousands of years._ ** _[Right. Unless someone were weakening it on purpose.]_**

Hope felt cold chills running down his back. He didn't know how to respond. He simply put it out of his mind. He didn't want to think about the apocalypse just yet.

The General and Rygdar left the vehicle closing the door behind them. Before they left, The General turned around one last time.

"Do us proud soldier. Save the world one more time."

The door closed.

_()—-(-) _()—-(-)

The inside of the vehicle was filled with silence. Hope still feeling slightly nauseous at the prospect of the sickness-whatever the hell it was- decided to sit down. He moved to the cockpit and sat in the far right seat. In front of him were two large joysticks.

"Well, I guess I'm driving." Hope yelled out. He expected Lightning to argue but to his surprise she followed him into the cockpit and sat on the far left seat. She nodded blankly and stared out of the window.

Hope looked in front of him and pressed the large red button with the words 'ON' below them.

There was a low roar as the vehicle awoke. A slight vibration signalled the idling of the engines. In front of him he was dazzled by multitude of lights, screens and blinking icons.

Hope pushed the joysticks down but the vehicle did not move. Scratching his head he examined the complex dashboard in front of him.

"Pull the lever on the ceiling down." Lightning instructed. To Hope's chagrin he saw that the ceiling was also covered in displays and buttons. Directly above him was a dangling handle connected to a thick black string. Hope pulled it and the vehicle turned on. He felt a small humming and all the screens began to light up. There was a large screen showing a map and radar that were particularly prominent. Hope pushed the joysticks down, grinning ear to ear.

The vehicle slowly rumbled forwards. According to the map, the Uncharted lands were still a good 50 miles from the edge of Kankoon. There were of course no settlements but until they reached that cut off point they could still rely on the topography of the map. Hope through trial and error found that pushing both joysticks in one direction corresponded to acceleration. He accelerated, the vehicle showing surprising speed as it coarse through the sand. After a few minutes they passed the Guardian Corps base and after that there was nothing but the landscape.

"How did you know?" Hope asked after finally getting the vehicle somewhat under control. It was the first time he was driving, and he felt proud to have this Mark VI as his 'first car.'

"I've been trained on similar vehicles-just smaller." Lightning's response was curt.

"Did you know anyone in Outpost 2?"

She was silent for a few seconds before replying.

"A couple of rookies I trained were sent there."

Hope waited for more, but she didn't speak again for quite some time. Instead she simply stared out the window, all prior enthusiasm blown away.

_()—-(-) _()—-(-)

Lightning was in a foul mood. She had guessed that the situation was pretty bad, but could never have guessed that it was critical. 2 years ago, when she had first arrived on Gran Pulse with the other l'cie, Pulse had been harsh yes, but nothing like the new reports were describing. The new reports depicted a version of Pulse that seemed much closer to a nightmarish hell.

One thought refused to leave her mind. She had spent the last 2 years in a sleepy town on the edge of Krantos. She should have been on the front, _would_ have been on the front if she'd had even the slightest idea the situation was so frighteningly bad. She knew the significance of the loss of Alpha Outpost 2. Quite simply it held the largest gathering of military might that the human civilisation had left to them. The bulk of the salvaged weapons and vehicles from Cocoon had been diverted there. She didn't know the reason, but she _did_ know that if Outpost 2 had fallen, it was only a matter of time before everywhere else did too.

The cities of Reru, New Cocoon and Krantos were completely defenceless. The only thing stopping them from being overrun was the increasingly paltry border forces. Anger boiled up in her as she cast her mind to the secretive tactics of the government. Keeping the civilians in the dark she could somewhat grasp, but not to tell your own soldiers? She would never have even considered joining the academy if she had known that it would prevent Amodar from sending her to fight.

A big shuddering bump that lifted her momentarily up off her seat, derailed her train of thought.

"Hope!" She growled. She regretted letting him drive, but she had still been shocked at the General's news. Another painfully uncomfortable bump caused her to snarl. He was not helping her temper with his incessant shit driving.

"Hope!"

"Ah sorry!" Hope replied, sounding absolutely insincere.

It had been about an hour since they had left the beach, and all traces of civilisation were far behind. Kankoon was some 80 miles behind them. They had passed into the Uncharted Lands not too long ago, but with no malicious greetings, she had relaxed a little. Hope however was gunning the engines, grinning like a madman. He had been experimenting with all the various controls and buttons, and she was surprised to see him fiddling with them even as he drove. She was suspicious, but decided to let it be. It was the fact that he was intentionally driving over the sand dunes that pissed her off.

Sand dunes. The area that they were in now was a desert. The sky was bright blue, and the sand a dark shade of orange. There was of course no road. No signs. No anything. This area had in fact not seen any human activity ever. Until today.

"Don't you dare!" Lightning said as she looked out the front window. In front of them was a giant sand dune, at least 100 metres tall. The others had been around 10. She gripped her armrest. She knew he was going to do it anyway. They were travelling fast, and the sand dune seemed to extend horizontally for miles. The problem with a sand dune that size was that the return trip down the backfire would be a sheer drop. The dune was fairly steep, and going at such a speed, once they went over the summit they would probably over extend and crash down.

Cursing inwardly she put her seatbelt on.

_()—-(-) _()—-(-)

Hope looked up at the set of arrays and buttons above him and pressed a small blue one. It was fairly innocuous, but he knew exactly what it did. Although there was no way Lightning could know, Razniel had decided to read the driving manual. All 1800 pages of it. There was no physical book of course, but shortly after leaving the beach he had accidentally gotten one of the screen displays closest to him to show the manual. He didn't know what button had caused it, but Razniel decided to take advantage. Although Hope was paying attention to driving, Razniel, using the same pair of eyes was focused on the blue screen. Every few seconds he would tell Hope to press a button flicking the page. It was difficult to focus on the desert in front, when there was a voice in your head yammering all the time.

Nevertheless he was having tremendous fun. As Razniel learnt about the workings of the vehicle, so did Hope. With each flick of the virtual page, new knowledge flooded into him. The button he had just pressed was to actuate the vehicles shielding. Immediately, thick metal shutters clanged shut on all the windows basking the cockpit in darkness only illuminated by the bright displays. After a second a dim red light turned on.

Lightning was aggravated. He could see that. She didn't say anything though, which surprised him. Although neither of them could see it, the vehicle changed slightly. The heavy gun turret on the top slid inside, and a metal sheath extended downwards, protecting the wheels.

"What's going on?" Lightning finally spoke up, completely confused.

"Watch!" Hope grinned, though inwardly his heart was beating. He realised that a smarter strategy might have been to slowly climb the dune. The problem was though that he didn't know if that would be enough. The dune was steep and the vehicle was heavy. He guessed that a certain amount of momentum was needed.

Hope pressed another button and where the windows had been a holographic display showing the outside world started up. The vehicle tilted as they began the ascent. At the speed they were going it didn't take more than a few seconds to reach the top. Once they did there was a brief feeling of weightlessness. Hope pulled a lever to his left. The reason why a 1200 ton vehicle didn't collapse the dune was due to certain anti-gravity fixtures along the sides of the Mark VI. It negated 99% of the weight. The lever Hope pulled cancelled that.

The vehicle weighing in at over 1200 tons almost immediately stopped sailing in the air and plummeted into the rear side of the dune, which immediately collapsed. Hope tried to pull the lever again but the shock of impact jerked him around and he couldn't grasp it. The vehicle unable to stay upright tumbled down the dune, with an avalanche of sand behind it.

"Shiiit!" Hope screamed, part in exhilaration and part in terror as the vehicle rolled sideways down the dune. After a particularly loud crash, the lighting system shut down, pitching them into darkness.

Finally the vehicle rolled over one last time - luckily the right side up. With a loud flickering, that sounded like the wings of a overly large dragonfly, the lighting once again turned on. Hope, still strapped in to his chair, flicked the switch to open the metal shades covering the window.

He noticed Lightning glaring at him.

"I know." He said, realising he had been an idiot. From the read-out on the screens in front of him, there had actually been significant damage to several areas. Most importantly the rear hatch had been damaged, with the integrity of the seal compromised.

They were no longer air-tight.

To his surprise, Lightning didn't demand to switch places. She looked furious, almost incandescent with rage, but he didn't think that it had anything to do with him. He felt it too. Not a rage as such, but a feeling of nausea. The feeling that everything he had thought was normal, and stable and strong - the things he could take for granted - were ready to collapse.

He shifted the ignition drive and checked the map to get his bearings, before once again (and more gently) accelerating onwards. Razniel continued to read the manual, but it was only a few hours before he was done, and retreated back to the mind-space. He was no real comfort, having no real emotional stake, except for his bond. Then there was silence. It became almost numb after a while, as the full shock of what he had learnt hours previously was slowly absorbed and understood.

As he drove on, the occasional bump marking the passing of another sand dune, the sun slowly started to fade into twilight. The Mark VI was solar powered, and driving in the dark would only deplete the reserves. He looked over to Lightning. She wasn't sleeping, merely staring out the window like she had for hours. They _had_ to succeed, he realised. The General must really have been desperate to send a mutated kid and a single former l'cie soldier on such a mission. But what else _could they have done?_

 ** _[There is something approaching]_** _I know I can feel it too._

It was a Wyvern, perhaps 200 metres ahead in the sky, far above. It had noticed the sound of their engines. He idled them down. There was no good place to set down for the night - they were still surrounded by the desert.

He could sense the presence of the Wyvern, but it was too high to actually see from the windows. Hope didn't particularly care.

 _"Whoosh!"_

Lightning sat up immediately, her eyes widening as the loud crack of thunder ripped apart the almost tranquil desert.

"What the hell was that?" Lightning asked, peering out the window with a frown. The sound of the Wyvern crashing into the desert mere meters away did not extract so much as a blink from her. She merely sat back and crossed her arms.

 ** _[I don't think there are any more]_**

Hope agreed. He unbuckled his belt and sat up, for the first time in hours. He yawned loudly as he stretched. Lightning also took off her belt and sat up.

"We should see that Wyvern." She said and walked to the back of the Mark VI. Although he tried not to look it, he was actually quite tired. That lightning bolt had not been small - he had used quite a lot of his power to make sure that it was killed in one hit. If there were any more around, he didn't know if he could kill them, as easily as he had this one.

Lightning opened the rear door and stepped out. Hope followed her anxiously, noting a slight crack in the corner from earlier.

The Wyvern was pretty large, a good 15 or so metres long. Strangely, its scales were black, and covered with what looked like rotton spores. It stank. He covered his face and complained loudly.

"That is gross. What the heck happened to it?"

Lightning said nothing, as she slowly approached it. Crouching down she appeared to inspect the scales of the beast closely. Hope for his part, having no interest in the disgusting creature walked in the other direction. The light was really fading now. it was strange to think there were barely a hundred miles from home. This was an alien, wild place, but it didn't seem hostile.

Well, with the exception of that Wyvern, he supposed.

Still, there was trace of wrongness in the air. It was barely notceable, but he could still detect it. It seemed the further out they went the worse it was getting.

He kicked the sand aimlessly.

"Hope!" Lightning called out and he reluctantly walked over to her, by the Wyvern.

"Look at this."

"What the scales?"

"I don't understand…was it ill?"

In truth the scales were badly burnt. The whole thing had been cooked by the lightnign blast. The blast had been so powerful it had impaled the Wyvern and melted the sand below. About 30 or so metres away the orange glow of the sand could be seen.

"We've got to be careful." Lightning's abrupt tone made Hope feel profoundly uneasy, despite the fact that he had been having similar thoughts just a moment ago.

The fact that it wa Lightning who was voicing them, really made it hit home.

"I don't know what happened to this thing, but it could happen to us as well."

"Wait what?"

"Let's get back inside. I can smell something wrong out here. The air…it's..let's just go."

"You don't think we could turn into zombies do you?"

She didn't reply, and was already halfway to the Mark VI.

He hadn't thought about the possibility that they could be affected by whatever cosmic disease was ravaging the beasts.

 _Well? Can we?_ ** _[Yes. It is possible. Even the Fal'cie are not immune.]_** _So, what? If we're bitten we catch whatever it is?_ ** _[If it is the Sickness, then no. The Sickness is a corruption of the Soul. As it eats the Soul, like a parasitic worm, the outer mortal shell you call the body rots and withers]_**

 _But what about the Fal'cie? You have no body._ ** _[Just the Soul. Far greater than that of a mortal. But it is no barrier to infection. We will need to be careful]_**

Feeling frightened and scared, Hope hurried after Lightning. He saw a shuffle in the sand, and before his brain recognised what it was, a snake jumped up, aiming for Lightning's bare thigh.

Hope tried to call his lightning back again, but it was too late. Lightning had already killed it, the blood from the knife he hadn't seen her draw glistening in the growing starlight. Its body fell to the sand, followed by a its head a few seconds later.

Hope stopped and looked at her as she climbed back onto the Mark VI. It put it all into perspective for him. He had been injected with a macguffin that merged him with a Fal'cie and let him shoot blasts of lightning.

But he had froze there. If that had been him, the snake would have bit him. But she hadn't even bothered to look at the snake. She was what she was from years of training and hard work. He has just the fighting equivalent of a nouveau-rich kid.

Impressed, and somewhat annoyed at his own conceit, he followed her up into the Mark VI.


End file.
